SpaceX sends all-civilian crew into orbit

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying four space tourists blasted off Wednesday night from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the first mission to orbit the globe with an all-civilian crew.

A huge fireball illuminated the sky as the rocket’s nine engines began to pull away from Earth at 8:02 pm (0002 GMT Thursday).

Around 12 minutes later, the Dragon capsule separated from the rocket’s send stage as the crew entered orbit, while the re-usable first stage made its way back to Earth for a vertical landing on a sea barge.

“A few have gone before and many are about to follow,” said Jared Isaacman, the 38-year-old billionaire who chartered the flight.

The spaceship’s trajectory will take it to an altitude of 357 miles (575 kilometers), which is deeper into space than the International Space Station (ISS).

After spending three days spinning around planet Earth, the four-person crew, all Americans, will splash down off the Florida coast.

“The #Inspiration4 launch reminds us of what can be accomplished when we partner with private industry!” tweeted NASA administrator Bill Nelson ahead of the launch.

NASA’s commercial crew program was founded in 2011.

Tough training -SpaceX, founded by billionaire Tesla owner Elon Musk, hasn’t disclosed what the trip cost Isaacman — but the price tag runs into the tens of millions of dollars.

Inspiration4’s crew leader is a high school dropout who went on to found Shift4 Payments, which provides payment processing services. He is also a keen aviator.

His three crewmates were selected through a competition, and their stories have been followed in a Netflix documentary.

Hayley Arceneaux, a pediatric cancer survivor, is a 29-year-old physician assistant. She is the youngest American to go into orbit and the first person with a prosthesis, on a part of her femur.

Chris Sembroski, 42, is a US Air Force veteran who now works as an aerospace data engineer.

Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old geoscientist and educator, was almost selected to become an astronaut for NASA in 2009, and is only the fourth African-American woman to go to space.

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