SpaceX announces first “free flyer” human spaceflight

Enlarge / Jared Isaacman at SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, California. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX announced Monday that it will fly a space tourism flight as early as the fourth quarter of this year, billing it as the first "all-civilian" mission to space.

A tech entrepreneur named Jared Isaacman has financed the mission, named "Inspiration4," and will serve as commander aboard the autonomous Crew Dragon spacecraft. Isaacman, 37, is a pilot rated to fly commercial and military aircraft, but he has no formal astronaut training. He is founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments, a digital payments company.

"My passion for aviation and the dream of going to space has really been lifelong," Isaacman said during a news conference.

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