The nose cone has opened, revealing the latest piece of hardware onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft: a domed window.

It will offer unrivalled views of Earth and space, and perhaps just as importantly, it gives the all-civilian crew their Neil Armstrong ‘one small step for (a) man...’ moment.

“The door is wide open and the view is spectacular,” says crew commander Jared Isaacman.

The Inspiration4 crew are alone in the Crew Dragon capsule, having separated from both rocket boosters.

They have opened up their visors and the anti-gravity indicator is floating. It’s apparently a Golden Retriever cuddly toy in honour of the emotional support dogs at St Jude Children’s hospital.

The Falcon 9 Stage 1 rocket has landed successfully on the drone ship.

Meanwhile in space, Crew Dragon is about to separate from the second stage booster rocket, which has already shut off.

The crew are giving thumbs up and appear to be weightless. They won’t feel Earth’s gravity for another three days.

Three minutes in and we’ve seen the first stage separation followed by ignition of the second stage.

The Falcon 9 will now return to Earth to land on a drone ship.

It couldn’t be going more smoothly.

“Everything continues to look nominal,” SpaceX says.

Inspiration4 has lifted off!

Just 60 seconds left to go...

Here’s a handy diagram from SpaceX showing what to expect after lift off.

After Falcon 9 separates from Crew Dragon, the rocket booster returns to Earth and lands autonomously on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean (where it will be refurbished for reuse).

The Crew Dragon capsule continues into orbit. Only the second stage booster is unable to be recovered.

The final message from ground control to the Inspiration4 crew comes through: “Good luck, God speed, and enjoy the ride.”

With just over 10 minutes to go, all is still going to plan.

With the propellent loaded, there is no restarting the countdown, however they can still put it on hold if there are any issues. There is also a backup launch window tomorrow, though hopefully it won’t need to be used.

“Everything is still looking good for launch of Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon,” SpaceX says.