Elon Musk and SpaceX have sold us the future for years. This doc shows what it costs when normal people are the ones climbing aboard.
Trailer for “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space”
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Billionaire Jared Isaacman picked crewmate Hayley Arceneaux from over 1 million St. Jude donors. She’s a childhood cancer survivor with a prosthetic leg. She became the first person with a prosthetic to orbit Earth.
- The crew orbited at roughly 575 km altitude. That is higher than the International Space Station and farther out than the Hubble Space Telescope has flown since the Apollo era.
- Parts of the mission were filmed by the crew themselves using iPhones floating inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Watch “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space”
You can watch “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space” on Netflix.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 92/100
- IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: 93/100 (Users); not yet rated (Critics)
Release Date: 2021 (Netflix)
Director’s Note: “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space” is directed by Jason Hehir, one of Netflix’s most reliable big-event doc directors. Hehir also directed “The Last Dance” (I rated this 100/100), “Andre the Giant (my colleague Rob Kelly rated this 98/100).”
My Review of “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space”
The Setup
This is a five-part Netflix docuseries chronicling SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission. This is the first time an all-civilian crew went into Earth orbit.
The crew:
- Jared Isaacman (billionaire funding the mission)
- Hayley Arceneaux (St. JudePA and cancer survivor)
- Sian Proctor (geologist and science communicator)
- Chris Sembroski (Lockheed Martin engineer)
None were professional astronauts. The series follows them through:
- selection
- brutal training
- launch in September 2021
- three days in orbit
- a splashdown in the Atlantic
More Highlights from the Doc
- The crew trained like elite athletes despite having no astronaut background. Centrifuge rides, zero-G flights, and full mission simulations.
- They climbed Mount Rainier (14,411 feet) together as a bonding and endurance test just weeks before launch.
- The series shows real anxiety and doubt. Panic attacks, imposter syndrome, and fears of failure are not glossed over.
- Once in orbit, the Dragon capsule’s massive cupola window gives jaw-dropping views of Earth every 90 minutes.
- The mission doubled as a massive fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It ultimately raised hundreds of millions of dollars.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- Hayley Arceneaux was medically cleared despite having a titanium rod in her leg. This forced SpaceX to rethink some long-held assumptions about astronaut requirements.
- Sian Proctor became the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft while in orbit.
- The crew slept in shifts due to the tight capsule layout. Their personal items are Velcroed to every surface.
- Unlike NASA missions, this one had no professional astronauts monitoring them on board. Everything relied on ground control and the crew themselves.
Wrap Up:
“Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space” makes space feel both terrifying and attainable at the same time. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when normal people leave Earth, this is absolutely worth your time.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc