SpaceX says the Inspiration4 crew had a busy night after launching

The crew of Inspiration4 is now safely orbiting the Earth, making them the first people ever to do so as part of a purely private space mission.

The four-person crew launched on time atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at 8:02 p.m. Wednesday and safely reached orbit minutes later.

SpaceX tweeted Thursday afternoon that the crew is "healthy, happy, and resting comfortably."

Space tourists orbiting the Earth:SpaceX launch: Inspiration4 crew settles in for 3-day Earth orbit

Godspeed:All-civilian Inspiration4 space mission launches from Kennedy Space Center

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Inspiration4 is the first private orbital space mission. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of Shift4 Payments, an internet payment processing company, is paying SpaceX an undisclosed amount for him and three others to orbit the Earth for three days. 

Isaacman has packaged the mission as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He has pledged $100 million himself to the hospital and hopes that fundraising efforts surrounding the mission will raise an additional $100 million.

Also along for the ride are 

• Hayley Arceneaux, 29,  a physician assistant at St. Jude, where she was treated for bone cancer as a child. 
• Chris Sembroski, a 42-year-old data engineer for Lockheed Martin who won his seat via a raffle among contributors to St. Jude
• Sian Proctor, a college professor and space enthusiast whose father was an Apollo-era NASA worker.

Apparently sleep wasn't very high on the crew's list of things to do after the evening liftoff. SpaceX reported that before the crew went to bed, they had orbited the Earth 5.5 times (each orbit takes about 90 minutes), conducted their first round of medical research and ate a couple of meals.

As of early afternoon Eastern time, the crew was sleeping, SpaceX said. After they wake up, they will conduct some more research and possibly spend some time looking back at Earth from a special viewing cupola SpaceX installed for this mission.

Inspiration4 is orbiting about 357 miles above Earth or about 100 miles higher than the International Space Station. No humans have flown this high since the last Hubble Space Telescope repair mission by the space shuttle Atlantis in 2009.

You can follow exactly where the spacecraft is at spacex.com/launches.

The Inspiration4 crew brought the total population of low-earth orbit to 14, the highest number of humans ever in space at the same time. Besides them, there are seven aboard the International Space Station and three Chinese astronauts who have been at the core module of the space station that China is building.

The South China Morning Post reported that Chinese astronauts had undocked from the station and were expected to return to Earth early Friday morning.

Inspiration4 is scheduled to be in orbit for three days before splashing down somewhere off the coast of Florida. Exact details of the timing and location of the splashdown will be released about 24 hours ahead of time.

A spokesman for the Inspiration4 crew said it will be "putting out social media content and updates on an improvised schedule."

Elon Musk tweeted Thursday afternoon that he had spoken to the crew and that "all is well."

In another tweet he wrote that Inspiration4 will clear the way for more average citizens to go to space.

"Missions like Inspiration4 help advance spaceflight to enable ultimately anyone to go to orbit & beyond."

A 25+ year veteran of FLORIDA TODAY, John McCarthy currently oversees the space team and special projects. Support quality local journalism by subscribing to FLORIDA TODAY. You can contact McCarthy at 321-752-5018 or jmccarthy@floridatoday.com.