spaceX civilian flight

Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete – targeting Wednesday, September 15 for launch of Dragon’s first all-civilian human spaceflight.

SpaceX on Twitter on its first all-civilian space crew: Inspiration4.

• The mission will be the first all-civilian crew in Earth’s orbit. None of the passengers will play any role piloting the aircraft.
• The effort will raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
• Notable: This is different from SpaceX’s other high profile missions that carried astronauts to the International Space Station.

The crew: Members of the crew represent certain pillars of the mission: leadership, hope, generosity, and prosperity. Meet the crew (note: one member is an accomplished pilot, albeit not an astronaut!).

Why It Matters: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and others are in the race for commercial spaceflight and space tourism. This mission highlights what’s potentially possible with a crew that has no real spaceflight experience.

Good background read: SpaceX prepares to send first all-civilian crew into orbit