First all-civilian SpaceX crew launches into space
Al Jazeera
Flight marks the debut of SpaceX owner Elon Musk’s new orbital tourism business, tickets for crew reportedly cost $200m.
The first all-civilian crew bound for orbit has blasted off from the US state of Florida on board a SpaceX rocket ship, marking a new era in the space tourism business.
The spacecraft, carrying billionaire e-commerce executive Jared Isaacman and three less-wealthy private citizens he chose to join him, lifted off on Wednesday night (00:03 GMT Thursday) from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.
A SpaceX webcast of the launch showed Isaacman, 38, and his crewmates – Sian Proctor, 51, Hayley Arceneaux, 29, and Chris Sembroski, 42 – strapped into the pressurised cabin of their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Resilience, wearing their helmeted black-and-white flight suits.
