All-private astronaut team lifts off on landmark launch to space station

Axiom's four-man team lifts off, riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. April 8, 2022. REUTERS/Steve Nesius

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) -A SpaceX rocket ship blasted off on Friday carrying the first all-private astronaut team ever launched to the International Space Station (ISS), a flight hailed by industry executives and NASA as a milestone in the commercialization of low-Earth orbit.

The four-man team selected by Houston-based startup Axiom Space Inc for its landmark debut spaceflight and orbital science mission lifted off at 11:17 a.m. EDT (1517 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.