First private spacewalk mission blasts into orbit

The most ambitious private space mission yet, which will see the first private spacewalk, has lifted off. At 5:23 am EDT, the Polaris Dawn mission rose from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket for low-Earth orbit.

The mission marks a major step toward breaking the government monopoly on orbital missions. Aboard the Dragon spacecraft are Mission Commander Jared Isaacman, Mission Pilot Scott Poteet, Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis, and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon.

The Multi-day Polaris Dawn mission won't just include the first private spacewalk. In addition, the itinerary involves 38 science experiments on the effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health. It will also be the first mission since the Apollo program in the 1970s to penetrate the radioactive Van Allen Belt, though only briefly for safety reasons.

Originally scheduled for August, Polaris Dawn has been delayed with what was becoming frustrating regularity because of poor weather conditions in the splashdown zone when the Dragon returns to Earth. This was particularly unpleasant for the crew because they have to quarantine for 30 hours before launch to ensure no one falls ill during the mission.

On the night, the Falcon 9 lifted off without a hitch. It reached Max Q, or the moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket, at the 58-second mark and the main engine cut out at two minutes 38 seconds into the flight. This was followed by second-stage separation four seconds later.

The second stage engine fired at the two-minute 51-second mark and burned for over six minutes. Meanwhile, the first stage carried out its routine maneuver for a powered landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

About 12 minutes into the flight, the Dragon spacecraft separated from the second stage and is now on trajectory to pierce the Van Allen radiation belts before going into a circular orbit at a lower, safer altitude, when it will conduct the first private spacewalk in history.

According to SpaceX, the Dragon now in orbit has previously flown to the International Space Station (ISS) and flew on the private Inspiration4 mission. The first stage booster has flown three times previously, including the Crew-8 mission to the ISS and two Starlink missions.

Source: SpaceX