SpaceX Launches 4 Amateurs on Private Earth-Circling Trip

A SpaceX Falcon 9, with four private citizens onboard, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A in Cape Canaveral , Fla., on Sept. 15, 2021. Chris O'Meara/AP Photo
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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.