Elon Musk's SpaceX announces world's first 'all-civilian' mission to space

SpaceX announced on Monday that it will launch four private individuals on a Crew Dragon capsule into orbit around the Earth, dubbed as "the world's first all-civilian mission."

It is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2021. The company's spacecraft would be commanded by Jared Isaacman, the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, who is also a trained pilot. 

The mission, dubbed Inspiration4, seeks to raise support for St Jude Children's Research Hospital. One spot on the flight is reserved for a St Jude ambassador, while a second seat will be offered to a member of the public as part of a charity drive during the month of February.

For the final spot on the flight, Isaacman and Shift4 Payments will select an entrepreneur “who utilizes the new Shift4Shop eCommerce platform, which empowers entrepreneurs to build and grow successful eCommerce businesses online,” the company said in a statement.

"Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, is donating the three other seats alongside him aboard Dragon to individuals from the general public who will be announced in the weeks ahead," the statement read.

Isaacman's flight will be the first time a crew made up entirely of private citizens will venture into space. 

"The Inspiration4 crew will receive commercial astronaut training by SpaceX on the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, orbital mechanics, operating in microgravity, zero gravity, and other forms of stress testing. They will go through emergency preparedness training, spacesuit and spacecraft ingress and egress exercises, as well as partial and full mission simulations," it added.

The Inspiration4 mission will travel into orbit aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This multi-day journey, orbiting Earth every 90 minutes along a customized flight path, will be carefully monitored at every step by the mission control.

Upon conclusion of the mission, Dragon, the spacecraft, will re-enter Earth's atmosphere for a soft water landing off the coast of Florida.