SpaceX announces space tourism flights starting next year

SpaceX announced a partnership this week with space tourism Space Adventures to start launching passengers to orbit aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft starting as early as 2021. SpaceX says it will send four privately-paying space tourists to orbit the Earth for five days. “This historic mission will forge a path to making spaceflight possible for all people who dream of it, and we are pleased to work with the Space Adventures’ team on the mission,” SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement. Space Adventures already sells seats on Russian Soyuz rockets.