CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida SpaceX s first private flight blasted off Wednesday night with two contest winners, a healthcare worker and their rich sponsor, the most ambitious leap yet in space tourism.
SpaceX launched the Inspiration-4 mission with an all-civilian crew on Thursday from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. It was the first time a rocket streaked toward orbit with an all-amateur crew no professional astronauts.
The latest in a recent line of billionaire space enthusiasts prepared for liftoff Wednesday along with three other private citizens aboard a SpaceX rocket ship, aiming to become the first all-civilian crew launched into Earth’s orbit.
The quartet of amateur space travelers, led by Jared Isaacman, the American founder and chief executive of e-commerce firm Shift4 Payments, were due for blastoff as early as 8 p.m.