Florida, US

SpaceX's Polaris Dawn Mission, bound for low-Earth orbit, had a successful liftoff at 0923 GMT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday (Sep 10). Four crew members aboard the Dragon capsule will be passing as close to Earth as 190 km (118 miles) and as far as 1,400 km (870 miles), the farthest any humans will have ventured since the end of the US Apollo moon programme in 1972.

Advertisment

"Liftoff of Polaris Dawn!" SpaceX said on X, alongside a photo of the rocket as it took off.

Two and a half minutes after liftoff, the bottommost part of the Falcon 9 rocket, called the first stage, detached from the mission after burning most of its fuel and landed back on Earth. The rocket will be refurbished and used again on future missions - a signature of Elon Musk's SpaceX company. 

13 minutes into the mission, the Dragon capsule was separated from the second stage as the manned crew fixed itself in the Earth's orbit. 

Advertisment

×

The highlight of the mission will be the first spacewalk composed entirely of non-professional astronauts, who will be wearing sleek, newly developed SpaceX extravehicular activity (EVA) suits outfitted with heads-up displays, helmet cameras and an advanced joint mobility system. 

The mission was scheduled to launch last month but was delayed due to a helium leak. Even on Tuesday, the mission was delayed by more than two hours due to poor weather conditions. 

Advertisment

Watch | NASA to return Boeing Starliner astronauts on SpaceX Crew Dragon | Gravitas

×

Who are aboard Polaris?

The mission was conceived by Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of financial technology firm Shift4 Payments, who was part of the Inspiration4 mission in September 2021.

Former US Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet as well as SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis are the other crew members. 

There have been roughly 270 spacewalks on the International Space Station (ISS) since its creation in 2000, and 16 by Chinese astronauts on Beijing's Tiangong space station. However, it would be the first time a private company would be chauffering the spacewalks. 

Also read | SpaceX's Polaris Dawn Mission involves 'unprecedented' dangers, expert warns

The crew will step out of the Dragon capsule on the third day at 700 km altitude for the spacewalk which will last about 20 minutes. The Dragon capsule will slowly depressurise its entire cabin as it has no airlock like the ISS. All four astronauts will rely on their slimmed-down, SpaceX-built spacesuits for oxygen - making it a risky exercise. 

(With inputs from agencies)