CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A new era of space travel blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday night with the launch of the all-civilian crew aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon.
The four members of the Inspiration4 mission rode in what is only the fourth trip for a Crew Dragon with humans on board after its first three missions ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station. This is the first time any craft in 60 years of space travel has flown without at least one professional astronaut on board.
The Crew Dragon Resilience bore the quartet atop a Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39A at 8:02 p.m. Eastern time, lighting up the night sky along the Space Coast.