Former HI-SEAS crew member launching into historical space mission

VIDEO NEWS RELEASE (with corrected link)

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Kelli Abe Trifonovitch, (808) 228-8108
Chief Communications Officer, UH Office of Communications
Posted: Sep 14, 2021

Sian Proctor (third from right) with HI-SEAS crew in 2013.
Sian Proctor (third from right) with HI-SEAS crew in 2013.
Sian Proctor enjoyed the fresh air after four months in the HI-SEAS habitat in 2013.
Sian Proctor enjoyed the fresh air after four months in the HI-SEAS habitat in 2013.
Sian Proctor, courtesy:  Inspiration4 Photos
Sian Proctor, courtesy: Inspiration4 Photos
Sian Proctor, Courtesy:  Inspiration4 Photos
Sian Proctor, Courtesy: Inspiration4 Photos

CORRECT Link to video and sound (details below): https://bit.ly/3nxdPbD

WHAT:  One of the original crew members of the first University of Hawai‘i Hawaiʻi Space Exploration Analog and Simulation program (HI-SEAS) on Mauna Loa is headed into space as part of the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth, Inspiration4.

WHO: Geoscientist Sian Proctor was one of six crew members who emerged on August 13, 2013 after spending four months at the HI-SEAS habitat as part of a NASA-funded study to investigate food strategies for long-duration space travel. 

WHEN: Inspiration4 has announced a 5-hour launch window beginning Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 8:00 p.m. EDT/2:00 p.m. HST. 

WHERE: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 

HOW: The launch vehicle is a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

OTHER FACTS:

  • HI-SEAS Principal Investigator and UH Mānoa Professor of Information and Computer Sciences Kim Binsted is planning to attend the launch.

  • The plan is for Inspiration4 to travel in a low Earth orbit on a multi-day journey.  According to the mission website, the crew will conduct experiments while traveling weightless at more than 17,000 miles per hour. 

  • Researchers will also collect environmental and biomedical data and biological samples from the four crew members, before, during and after the historic spaceflight. 

VIDEO:

BROLL: (1 minute, 50 seconds)

0:00-0:45 - the HI-SEAS habitat (2013)

0:45-1:20 - the crew emerging from the HI-SEAS habitat (2013)

1:20-1:50 - the Inspiration4 crew with Sian Proctor

SOUND:

Sian Proctor, HI-SEAS crew member in 2013 (14 seconds)

“You could hear the breeze against the spacesuit, but you couldn’t really feel it and right now I’m loving it. I’m loving feeling the breeze against me and even the warmth of the sun on my face.  It’s just, that’s nice.”