SpaceX launches world’s first amateur astronaut crew into orbit

Four amateur astronauts have blasted into space on a SpaceX rocket for the first time ever.

Four amateur astronauts have blasted into space on a SpaceX rocket for the first time ever, without any professional astronauts on board.

The civilian crew blasted off inside a Dragon capsule from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, a milestone for the space tourism market by Elon Musk’s company.

The rocket is set to spend three days orbiting the Earth at an unusually high altitude of 357 miles, this is 100 miles higher than the International Space Station.

Aboard the rocket is billionaire Jared Isaacman, 38, who put in an undisclosed amount of money to the trip after his success with his internet company Shift4 Payments.

29-year-old Hayley Arceneux, who is a childhood cancer survivor and works at the research hospital has also become America’s youngest person to go into space on the rocket.

Also on board are contestant winners Chris Sembroski, 42, who works as a data engineer, and Sian Proctor, 51, a community college teacher.

Sian Proctor is SpaceX’s first black female spacecraft pilot and also the fourth black female astronaut to go into space.

Proctor said: “There have been three black female astronauts that have made it to space and knowing that I’m going to be the fourth means that I have this opportunity to not only accomplish my dream, but also inspire, and inspire the next generation of women and girls of colour.”

The capsule is due to orbit at a speed of over 17,000mph and orbit the Earth once every 90 minutes.

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