SpaceX flight to carry civilians

For the first time in 60 years of human spaceflight, a rocket is poised to blast into orbit Wednesday with no professional astronauts on board, only four paying tourists.

SpaceX’s first private flight will be led by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman who’s bankrolling the entire trip. He’s taking two sweepstakes winners with him on the three-day, round-theworld trip, along with a health care worker who survived childhood cancer.

They’ll ride alone in a fully automated Dragon capsule, the same kind that SpaceX uses to send astronauts to and from the International Space Station for NASA. But the chartered flight won’t be going there.

The four will soar to an altitude of 357 miles, just above the current position of the Hubble Space Telescope.