Photos: Inspiration4 launches from Kennedy Space Center

The first all-private crew to fly into Earth orbit launched Sept. 15 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, streaking into space on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket powered by nine Merlin main engines.

The 215-foot-tall (65-meter) rocket lifted off from pad 39A at Kennedy at 8:02:56 p.m. EDT on Sept. 15 (0002:56 GMT on Sept. 16) to kick off a three-day journey in space.

The four-person Inspiration4 crew rode into orbit seated in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft.

Led by Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman who funded the mission, the four civilian space travelers trained for six months to prepare for the flight. Inspiration4’s mission ended Sept. 18 with a successful splashdown of the Crew Dragon capsule in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral.

Inspiration4 was the first all-private, non-government crew to launch into low Earth orbit. Isaacman was joined on the mission by Sian Proctor, community college professor and artist, Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant and cancer survivor, and Chris Sembroski, a data engineer and a U.S. Air Force veteran.

Read our full story for details on the mission.

Credit: SpaceX Credit: SpaceX Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography Credit: SpaceX Credit: SpaceX Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography\ Credit: SpaceX Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography Credit: SpaceX Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography

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