SpaceX will fly its first mission to space later this year with a fully civilian crew

SpaceX announced on Monday that it will launch four private persons on a Crew Dragon capsule into orbit around Earth, dubbed “the world’s first fully civilian mission” and scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The company’s spacecraft will be led by Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments. Known as Inspiration4, the mission is seeking support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Isaacman is donating the three associated seats on the mission “to crew members who will be selected to represent the mission pillars of leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity,” SpaceX said in a release.

Inspiration4 is the realization of a lifelong dream and a step towards a future where everyone can venture and explore the stars. I appreciate the tremendous responsibility that comes with carrying out this mission and I want to use this historic moment to help humanity to inspire while helping to tackle childhood cancer here on Earth, ‘Isaacman said in a statement.

The Inspiration4 crew will undergo training led by SpaceX as they prepare for launch atop one of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets.

Elon Musk’s company has announced several private missions in recent years, including a deal with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa to take the company’s Starship rocket on a trip around the moon in 2023. SpaceX also has space tourism deals with Axiom Space, which aims to fly four people to the International Space Station for a 10-day trip early next year, and Space Adventures, which plans to take four tourists on a five-day trip by 2022. Free flyer trip to orbit the Earth.