Netflix Docuseries on First All-Civilian Mission to Orbit Earth

Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space, a documentary series about the world’s first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth, is coming to Netflix next month.

The SpaceX Dragon mission in September, dubbed Inspiration4, will see four civilians launch into space for a three-day trip orbiting Earth, reaching an altitude higher than that of the International Space Station. Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space will be the first Netflix documentary series to cover an event in near real-time, premiering in five parts leading up to and following the mission.

TIME Studios, Known and producer Connor Schell, as well as director Jason Hehir and the team behind The Last Dance, will take viewers behind the scenes with the four crew members. Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space will follow their unconventional selection and intensive months-long commercial astronaut training, through the intimate and emotional moments leading up to liftoff. The final episode of Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space, which is slated to premiere days after the mission is completed, will feature access inside the spacecraft, capturing the launch and the crew’s journey to space, as well as their return home to Earth. The first two episodes of the series will launch on September 6.

Led and commanded by Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, the Inspiration4 mission is intended to raise funds and awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The crew was selected to represent the four pillars of the mission: leadership, hope, prosperity and generosity. Isaacman is joined on the mission by Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude and pediatric cancer survivor; Dr. Sian Proctor, a professor of geosciences and two-time NASA astronaut candidate; and Chris Sembroski, a former member of the U.S. Air Force who served in Iraq and now works as a Lockheed Martin engineer.

A hybrid live-action animation special for kids and families to watch together before the mission, A StoryBots Space Adventure will feature civilian space travelers from Inspiration4 helping the StoryBots answer some of kids’ most pressing questions—from how a rocket works to what they eat in space. The special is scripted by StoryBots writer Erik Weiner and features a new original song performed by Big Freedia. StoryBots is the children’s learning and entertainment brand behind the Emmy Award-winning series Ask The StoryBots, created by Evan and Gregg Spiridellis and produced by Mindshow.