‘Happy’ SpaceX tourist crew spend first day whizzing around Earth

WASHINGTON: SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 crew spent their first day in orbit conducting scientific research and talking to children at a pediatric cancer hospital, after blasting off on their pioneering mission from Cape Canaveral the night before.

St Jude tweeted its patients got to speak with the four American space tourists, "asking the questions we all want to know like ‘are there cows on the Moon?’" Billionaire Jared Isaacman, who chartered the flight, is trying to raise $200 million for the research facility.

Inspiration4 is the first orbital spaceflight with only private citizens aboard. Earlier, Elon Musk’s company tweeted that the four were "healthy" and "happy," had completed their first round of scientific research, and enjoyed a couple of meals.

Musk himself tweeted that he had personally spoken with the crew and "all is well." By now, they should have also been able to gaze out from the Dragon ship’s cupola -- the largest space window ever built, which has been fitted onto the vessel for the first time in place of its usual docking mechanism.

The Inspiration4 mission also brings the total number of humans currently in space to 14 -- a new record. In 2009, there were 13 people on the International Space Station (ISS). There are currently seven people aboard the ISS, including two Russian cosmonauts, and three Chinese astronauts on spaceship Shenzhou-12, which is bound home after its crew spent 90 days at the Tiangong space station.