Elon Musk's SpaceX Inspiration 4: First all-civilian crew ever launched into Earth's orbit - in pics

A SpaceX rocket ship blasted off from Florida on Wednesday (September 15) night with two contest winners, a health care worker and their rich sponsor, the most ambitious leap yet in space tourism. It was the first time a rocket streaked toward orbit with an all-amateur crew - no professional astronauts.

(Pic: Reuters)

The Dragon capsule's two men and two women are looking to spend three days circling the world from an unusually high orbit - 100 miles (160 kilometers) higher than the International Space Station - before splashing down off the Florida coast this weekend. The flight is expected to last about three days from launch to splashdown in the Atlantic, mission officials said.

(Pic: Reuters)

The quartet of amateur astronauts, led by billionaire e-commerce executive, the American founder and chief executive of financial services firm Shift4 Payments Inc, Jared Isaacman, lifted off just before sunset from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, and the spacecraft roared into the darkened skies.

(Pic: Reuters)

A SpaceX webcast of the launch showed Isaacman, 38, and his crewmates - Sian Proctor, 51, Hayley Arceneaux, 29, and Chris Sembroski, 42 - strapped into the pressurized cabin of their gleaming white SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Resilience, wearing their helmeted black-and-white flight suits.

(Pic: Reuters)

Unlike NASA missions, the public won't be able to listen in, let alone watch events unfold in real time. Once opposed to space tourism, NASA is now a supporter. The shift from government astronauts to non-professionals "is just flabbergasting," said former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former space shuttle commander.