SpaceX launches first private spacewalk mission

Hibapress

SpaceX, the American spacecraft company, launched a rocket on Tuesday with a crew of four non-professional astronauts on a pioneering mission to conduct the first commercial spacewalk.

The Falcon 9, a spacecraft from the company owned by billionaire Elon Musk, took off from Florida on Tuesday at around 5:24 a.m. LT (0924 GMT). The mission is called Polaris Dawn.

On board the rocket is billionaire Jared Isaacman, who already flew into orbit with SpaceX in 2021 and funded this Tuesday’s flight.

Joining him are SpaceX’s two top engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, and former Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, who is a friend of Isaacman’s. A highlight of the mission’s schedule, Isaacman and Gillis plan to exit through an open hatch of their Crew Dragon spacecraft on the third day of flight and each perform a 15- to 20-minute spacewalk.

The Polaris Dawn mission is expected to last about five days before the crew returns to Earth for a splashdown off the coast of Florida.

Initially scheduled for August 27, the mission was delayed due to a technical problem linked to a helium leak.