SpaceX launches four civilians into orbit on Inspiration4 flight

SpaceX has launched the Inspiration4 – the world's first spaceflight crewed entirely by civilians – from the legendary launch complex 39A Nasa's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida in US. Sitting atop the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket are four private citizens in a specially modified Crew Dragon capsule awaiting to start three days of orbiting the Earth, the first time an all-civilian crew will have orbited the planet. A successful flight of Inspiration-4 will add SpaceX to the club of companies providing space tourism facilities after Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. However, the space tourism sector remains a club of billionaires, including Isaacman, who said "this is the first step toward a world where everyday people can go and venture among the stars."

Liftoff of @Inspiration4X! Go Falcon 9! Go Dragon! pic.twitter.com/NhRXkD4IWg

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 16, 2021

The Dragon capsule's two men and two women are looking to spend three days circling the world from an unusually high orbit. The event was  watched with great interest around the world.