SpaceX has announced a partnership to send three tourists to the International Space Station (ISS), the first private trip in more than a decade.

Elon Musk's company has signed a deal with Axiom Space to transport the tourists along with a commander on one of its Crew Dragon capsules in the second half of 2021.

Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini said the flight "will represent a watershed moment in the march toward universal and routine access to space." He did not reveal a price tag.

The cost of launching a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is around $60m (£46m) and, throwing in the cost attached to building a new capsule, the project price tag could exceed $100m.

Each ticket is therefore likely to cost tens of millions of dollars. One estimate suggests seats would be in the region of $50m.

Eight space tourists have so far gone to the ISS on Russian Soyuz rockets with the company Space Adventures.

The first was Dennis Tito, who paid $20m for an eight-hour stay on the ISS back in 2001. The last to go was Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, in 2009.