First all-civilian space crew set to blast off on SpaceX rocket

It will be the first time in 60 years of human spaceflight that no professional astronaut is aboard an orbit-bound rocket.

SpaceX aimed to blast a billionaire into orbit Wednesday night with his two contest winners and a healthcare worker who survived childhood cancer.

It’s the first chartered passenger flight for Elon Musk’s SpaceX and a big step in space tourism by a private company.

“It blows me away, honestly,” SpaceX director Benji Reed said on the eve of launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the United States. “It gives me goose bumps even right now to talk about it.”