SpaceX Launches Space Trip For All Civilian Crew

SpaceX Rocket Ship: The Dragon spacecraft, launched from a Falcon 9 rocket by Elon Musk, became the world's first all-civilian human mission to circle Earth. Billionaire Jared Isaacman, academic Sian Proctor, cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, and American soldier Christopher Sembroski are among the members of the 'Inspiration4' mission team. During the journey, which is being funded by Isaacman, they will spend around three days in space.

Isaacman, 38, and his crewmates - Sian Proctor, 51, Hayley Arceneaux, 29, and Chris Sembroski, 42 - were seen strapped into the pressurised cabin of their gleaming white SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Resilience, in their helmeted black-and-white flight suits, according to a SpaceX webcast of the launch.

According to SpaceX, the mission will reach a maximum orbital height of 360 miles (575 kilometres) above Earth, higher than the International Space Station or the Hubble Space Telescope, and the furthest any person has gone from Earth since NASA's Apollo moon programme ended in 1972.