SpaceX Completes First Tourist Flight to Space: What Makes It Stand Out From Competitors, How the Launch Went and Who Flew

The newly minted astronauts will spend three days in orbit.

American aerospace company SpaceX has completed its first successful tourist flight to space.

We bring you the details of the launch, how the flight differs from those demonstrated by competitors, and who took part in SpaceX's first tourist flight.

Launch details

The Falcon rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft launched on September 16 at 03:03 Kyiv time. 

About three minutes after launch, the first stage of the launch vehicle separated and landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

A few minutes later, the Dragon capsule separated from the second stage and entered an orbit at an altitude of 575 km, which is 150 km higher than the orbit of the International Space Station.

After this, the astronauts were able to see Earth through a transparent dome. This dome-window, located under the nose cone, replaced the hatch door that Dragon uses for docking with the ISS in crewed missions. 

What sets SpaceX's tourist flight apart from those carried out by competitors Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic is that the astronauts will spend a full three days in space, and there is no company founder Elon Musk on board the capsule, as was the case with Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.  

Mission participants

Four people are on board the Dragon capsule, who completed an accelerated flight training course in just half a year.

The crew includes billionaire Jared Isaacman, Dr. Hayley Arceneaux's assistant, geologist Sian Proctor and engineer Chris Sembroski. The team plans to conduct a number of experiments and observe Earth.

All seats in the capsule were paid for by Isaacman. He dreams that space will become accessible to everyone in the future.