Following several delays, SpaceX has finally launched the historic Polaris Dawn mission with four non-professional astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft.
A Falcon 9 rocket delivered the crew safely to orbit shortly after lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:23 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
A live-stream of the launch showed the Falcon 9 lighting up the dark sky as it powered the Crew Dragon and four crew members skyward.
Liftoff of Polaris Dawn! pic.twitter.com/hAti2arueX
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 10, 2024
Minutes later, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster made a successful landing, enabling it to be used in future launches.
The five-day Polaris Dawn mission is notable for a number of reasons. It’ll be the first crew to perform a spacewalk from a SpaceX Dragon capsule, and be the first-ever commercial spacewalk. The two crew members who engage in the spacewalk will also test next-generation spacesuits that offer more mobility and could be used for lunar spacewalks in the coming years.
Additionally, the mission is also sending humans higher in Earth’s orbit (about 870 miles/1,400 kilometers) than anyone has been since the Apollo program five decades ago. It will also test laser-based Starlink communications that will be used in future missions, and conduct research to help provide insight on human health during long-duration spaceflight missions.
Mission commander and billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman is flying with Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who served 20 years in various roles; Sarah Gillis, a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX; and Anna Menon, also a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX.
Tech Reader will be tracking the mission so be sure to check back for updates on how the crew is doing.
SpaceX had originally targeted August 27 for the launch but scrubbed it after a technical issue emerged on the ground. A planned launch for the following day was also called off due to poor weather conditions in the planned splashdown zone.
