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SpaceX launched a crew of four private astronauts earlier today in a mission to conduct the first-ever private spacewalk.
According to Reuters the mission launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and had billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers, and a former Air Force pilot on board.
In a post on X, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX confirmed that the mission is billed to achieve an “altitude 3 times higher than the Space Station.”
SpaceX in a separate tweet gave the exact figures on the altitude expected to be around 870 miles or 1,400km, a feat never attempted by any human space crew since NASA’s Apollo missions in 1969.
Isaacman, who previously financed a civilian spaceflight in 2021, is sharing the costs of this mission with SpaceX. The collaboration has led to the development of new SpaceX extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits to withstand the extreme conditions of space and allow for better mobility.
The spacewalk, scheduled for Thursday September 12, will see Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis exit the Crew Dragon spacecraft while tethered, as there is no pressurized airlock to shield them from the vacuum of space.
In addition to the spacewalk, Polaris Dawn stated on X that during their time in orbit, the Polaris Dawn crew will carry out 36 research and science experiments in collaboration with 31 partner institutions, aiming to deepen our understanding of how humans adapt, live, and work in space.
If this mission becomes a success, it will be the third time SpaceX Falcon 9 has blasted into space after it encountered mid-flight failure in an earlier attempt.
After it gained Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) clearance, SpaceX performed its second mission last August, launching its Falcon 9 rocket for Space Norway’s Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission.
