SpaceX launches all-amateur/tourist crew, a 'Billionaire Space Race' update

I wrote about "Branson's and Bezos's launches two months ago as stages of what Neil DeGrasse Tyson called the "Billionaire Space Race." The third and leading billionaire in the contest fired back yesterday as MSNBC reported in SpaceX Makes History Launching All-Civilian Crew Into Orbit.

Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX launched four space tourists into orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida reaching a new milestone for the space tourism industry. NBC News Correspondent Cal Perry joins MSNBC's Brian Williams to discuss the history-making moment.

Musk himself didn't fly, but another billionaire did, as the Associated Press in the Detroit News reported.

Leading the flight is Jared Isaacman, 38, who made his fortune with a payment-processing company he started in his teens...Isaacman is the third billionaire to launch this summer, following the brief space-skimming flights by Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson and Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos in July.

Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski, and Sian Proctor joined Issacman on the flight. Together, they form the first all-tourist crew in orbit with no professional astronauts. While it comes off as a bit of a stunt, I still think that making space profitable, including space tourism, is a good thing for space exploration and exploitation.

MSNBC just showed highlights behind commentary. CBS News showed nearly all the launch in SpaceX makes history with successful launch of first all-civilian crew to orbit Earth.

SpaceX has launched four amateurs on a private flight to circle Earth for three days. It's the first time a rocket has streaked toward orbit with no professional astronauts on board. Former astronaut Garrett Resiman, who is also a senior advisor at SpaceX and a professor of astronautical engineering at USC, joins CBSN's Lana Zak to describe the launch.

The launch went well, so here's to a safe flight and landing.