SpaceX sends four US civilians into space on first private flight

Cape Canaveral, Florida

SPACEX launched four Americans, including a technology billionaire, on a three-day orbital excursion that many see as a harbinger of a new era in human spaceflight.

The flight, dubbed Inspiration4, took off on Wednesday night from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and reached an orbiting height of 585km around three hours later.

Inside the company's Dragon crew capsule are Jared Isaacman, a technology billionaire, and three other US citizens without specialised astronaut training.

"I really do see this as a renaissance in human space transportation," Phil McAlister, director of Nasa's commercial spaceflight division, said before the launch, alluding to the commercial nature of the journey, with the crew of four flying aboard a privately built spacecraft in a trip SpaceX will oversee.

It's the first of several private spaceflights that Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp is planning in coming years, with the next scheduled for early 2022.

In addition to serving as a proof-of-concept demonstration flight, the mission will also raise US$200 million in charity for childhood-cancer research.

Beyond the undisclosed sum Mr Isaacman is paying SpaceX for the flight - reported as US$200 million by Time magazine - he has also pledged US$100 million to St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee.

As the countdown to lift-off neared zero, Mr Isaacman could be heard saying, "Punch it, SpaceX."

The flight set a new altitude record for SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, and takes the foursome deeper into space than any flight since the last Hubble telescope servicing mission in May 2009 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The Hubble orbits about 500km above Earth.

Nasa played no role in the trip planning beyond some technical consultations and training assistance for the crew.

Mr Isaacman, a 38-year-old who's the founder and chief executive officer of payment processor Shift4 Payments, assumed the role of mission commander. He was joined in the capsule by Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a childhood-cancer survivor who works as a physician's assistant at St Jude.

She is also the first person to fly to space with a prosthetic device: she lives with a rod implanted in her left leg as part of her treatment for bone cancer.

The other two passengers are Sian Proctor, 51, a geoscience professor in Phoenix and a finalist for the 2009 Nasa astronaut class; and Chris Sembroski, 42, an Air Force veteran who works as an engineer for Lockheed Martin in Seattle.

SpaceX designed the flight and determined that the crew were trained and fit to go. The four spent about nine months in preparation, including learning about the Dragon's systems, how to intervene during the flight if necessary, and other endeavours such as practising in a centrifuge to withstand high-gravity forces.

They also flew several times in a fleet of former military fighter jets Mr Isaacman owns to become accustomed to G forces.

The Inspiration4 commander also mandated a multi-day hike in May, above 10,000 feet, on Mount Rainier in Washington State.

SpaceX, which ferries Nasa astronauts to and from the International Space Station with the Dragon vehicle, will share data from the mission with the agency, including the capsule's encounters with space debris and radiation, Mr McAlister said.

Nasa engineers will also inspect the spacecraft's heat shield after the crew's return. BLOOMBERG