SpaceX Launches 4 Amateurs on Private Earth-Circling Trip

The Associated Press
Updated:

Cape Canaveral, Fla.—SpaceX’s first private flight streaked into orbit Wednesday 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 spacecraft circled Earth with an all-amateur crew and no professional astronauts.