SpaceX launches a fully civilian spacecraft into orbit for the first time

by time news

For the first time, the American company SpaceX has launched a launch vehicle with the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which is crewed exclusively by civilians.

SpaceX launched from Florida on Wednesday, carrying an e-commerce billionaire and three less wealthy individuals.

A quartet of amateur astronauts led by American founder and CEO of financial services company Shift4 Payments Inc (FOUR.N) Jared Isaacman took off just before sunset from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. According to Reuters, the spaceship roared into the darkened skies.

In a webcast of SpaceX’s launch, 38-year-old Isaacman and his teammates – 51-year-old Sian Proctor, 29-year-old Hayley Arseno, and 42-year-old Chris Sembroski – are tied to the pressurized cockpit of their shiny white SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule dubbed Resilience.

Thumbs up were shown as the capsule soared into the Florida skies on one of the Falcon 9’s reusable two-stage rockets. It reached orbit almost 10 minutes after launch at 20:03 local time.

The first stage launch vehicle, after separating from the top of the spacecraft, descended back to Earth and landed safely on a landing platform floating in the Atlantic.

The mission, which will be the first crewed mission to orbit without professional astronauts, is expected to last about three days from launch to splashdown in the Atlantic, the mission said.

It marked the debut flight of SpaceX owner Elon Musk’s new orbital tourism business and a step up from the competition, which also offers rocket ship rides for customers willing to pay a big fortune for the joy – and bragging rights – of space travel.

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