SpaceX is teaming up with a space tourism company to offer a flight aboard its Crew Dragon capsule that could propel customers higher into space than private citizens have ever gone before.
Space Adventures said Tuesday that the four-person mission would enable tourists to "see planet Earth the way no one has since the Gemini program."
NASA's Gemini program, which flew missions in 1965 and 1966, was a precursor to the Apollo moon program and helped the agency learn about the effects of extended spaceflight on humans.
Space Adventures did not announce how much the mission would cost tourists or when it would launch. In its statement, the Vienna, Va., company seemed to hedge on whether enough customers would sign up for the mission, noting that "if interested parties are secured," it would be the first orbital space tourism experience provided entirely with U.S. technology.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in a statement that the mission would "forge a path to making spaceflight possible for all people who dream of it."
This year, SpaceX is set to launch NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in the Crew Dragon for the first time.
