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SpaceX's latest mission, Polaris Dawn, seen in Mechanicsburg

SpaceX's latest mission, Polaris Dawn, successfully launched at 5:23 a.m. ET today. The mission, which is a bold and risky trek into Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts, is being undertaken by a four-person crew of civilians. The crew also aims to conduct the first commercial spacewalk. The launch was livestreamed on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which was purchased by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in 2022.

The Polaris Dawn crew includes the first SpaceX employees ever to venture to space. As the capsule entered Earth’s orbit, ground controllers, led by SpaceX launch director Frank Messina, offered words of encouragement to the crew. The launch comes after several weather delays in late August and earlier this morning hampered the crew’s efforts to get off the ground.

The mission is the brainchild of SpaceX and Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of financial technology firm Shift4 Payments. Isaacman, who made his first foray into spaceflight with the Inspiration4 mission in September 2021, is joined by his close friend and former US Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, as well as SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. The crew aims to carry out several superlatives on this mission, including reaching record-setting heights for an orbit around Earth, surpassing the milestone set by NASA’s 1966 Gemini 11 mission.

On the third day of the mission, the civilian crew will attempt a history-making spacewalk. The endeavor will be hazardous, exposing all four crew members and the Crew Dragon’s interior to the vacuum of space. Such a situation may make it difficult to relock the vehicle’s hatch due to differences in pressure. The Polaris Dawn mission is expected to last for five days, after which the crew will return to Earth.

CNN and Space.com provided live coverage of the event.

See the video here!


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