SpaceX launched its historic Polaris Dawn mission early this morning, and the nighttime launch produced some incredible images.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, led by the space shuttle Crew Dragon Resilience, launched at 5:23 a.m. EDT (09:23 GMT) on Tuesday (Sept. 10) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Polaris Dawn will fly higher than any crewed mission since the Apollo 17 lunar missions in December 1972, reaching an altitude three times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station. After descending to about half its maximum altitude, the crew will depressurize the Crew Dragon capsule and two of the Polaris Dawn crew members will perform a spacewalk (also known as an extravehicular activity, or EVA) in new spacesuits designed by SpaceX. It will be the first spacewalk conducted by a non-governmental mission.
The excitement began early in the morning as the four crew members made their way to their Falcon 9 rocket waiting at Launch Complex 39A.
Pad 39A was also the site of many of NASA’s Apollo launches, including Apollo 11, the first mission to land humans on the Moon.
Once on the launch pad, the crew crossed the bridge-like Crew Access Arm to enter their spacecraft.
The Polaris Dawn crew includes billionaire financier and commander Jared Isaacman, retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel and pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX engineers.
After missing the first launch window due to weather concerns, Polaris Dawn launched in a dramatic early morning launch at 5:23 a.m. EDT (09:23 GMT).
As the mission’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off, its nine Merlin engines lit up the morning sky over Florida’s famous Space Coast.
“We wouldn’t be on this journey without the 14,000 of you at home and everyone else cheering us on,” Isaacman told SpaceX mission control shortly after Crew Dragon was launched into orbit. “We appreciate it. Now we get to work.”
One of the main goals of the Polaris Dawn mission is to test SpaceX’s new EVA spacesuit during the planned spacewalk, which, if all goes according to plan, will take place on the third day of the mission.
On its way into orbit, the rocket illuminated the wetlands surrounding the Kennedy Space Center.
About two minutes and 40 seconds after launch, the Falcon 9’s main engines shut down and the vehicle’s second stage separated from the booster as planned. The booster was scheduled to land on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions autonomous drone ship, which was stationed nearby in the Atlantic Ocean, about 9.5 minutes after launch.
The capsule initially entered an elliptical orbit with a maximum altitude (apogee) of about 1,200 kilometers and a minimum altitude (perigee) of about 190 kilometers.
The Polaris Dawn crew will spend the next five days in space conducting experiments and communicating with us here on Earth. The mission is also raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to fund pediatric cancer research.
The mission’s spacewalk is scheduled for the third day; on the fourth day, the crew will send a surprise message to Earth using SpaceX’s Starlink mega-constellation.
Polaris Dawn’s Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to splashdown in six days. If all goes according to plan, the capsule will parachute into the ocean at one of several possible landing zones off the coast of Florida, where a recovery ship will pick up the spacecraft and crew.
