The mission, named Inspiration4, will be carried out using SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9 rocket by Elon Musk launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
It could take off in the fourth quarter of 2021, taking the first tourists from space for the first time.
It will have on board Jared Isaacman, founder and boss of Shift4 Payments.
The co-founder and CEO of Harbortouch, a payment processor and manufacturer of payment processing hardware, also founded Draken International in 2012, which trains pilots for the US military.
In February 2021, Isaacman announced funding for SpaceX Inspiration4.
He will command the mission himself.
At the same time, Jared Isaacman will donate the three seats alongside him aboard the Dragon capsule to “individuals from the general public, whose identities will be announced in the coming weeks.
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A competition to go into space
A website has been set up at Inspiration4.com so that people can apply for one of these places.
This competition is open to residents of the United States over 18 years of age.
Two categories of seats are possible: the seat of “generosity” can be obtained with a donation to the St Jude foundation which works on childhood illnesses.
The seat of "prosperity" can be obtained by sharing its history of entrepreneurship.
The three tourists and Isaacman will receive "SpaceX-powered commercial astronaut" training.
This mission is expected to last several days, and space tourists will orbit the Earth every 90 minutes.
The Dragon capsule became the first private spacecraft to be certified by NASA from the space shuttle.
In November 2020, four astronauts were successfully put into orbit before joining the International Space Station.
Objectives with NASA
Collaboration with NASA should also continue.
The US agency plans to spend more than $ 8 billion by 2024 on its commercial crew program, with the hope that the private sector will meet NASA's "low orbital" needs so that the latter can survive. concentrate on return missions to the Moon, then to Mars.
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In addition to its first space tourism mission, SpaceX has planned two other manned launches for NASA in 2021, including one in the spring with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet on board.
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