DigiTech Update

Delayed Many Times, Polaris Dawn Mission Finally Launches Into Space




The five-day mission, which aims to test a new spacesuit design and conduct the first private spacewalk, lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at about 5:23 a.m.

The capsule reached orbit about nine and a half minutes later. Crew Dragon separated from its support rods three minutes after that, with onboard cameras providing spectacular views of the capsule above a sunlit Earth.



“As you look up at the North Star, remember that your courage lights the map for future explorers,” SpaceX Launch Director Frank Messina radioed to the crew, as quoted by ReutersWednesday (11/9).

“We believe in your skills, courage and teamwork to carry out the mission ahead. We send you hugs from the ground,” he said.

This is Crew Dragon’s fifth private mission, and its riskiest yet. The spacecraft will eventually enter an oval-shaped orbit, passing Earth by 190 km (118 miles) and traveling 1,400 km (870 miles) — the furthest humans have traveled since the end of the US Apollo lunar program in 1972.

Last month’s launch attempt was delayed hours before liftoff due to a small helium leak in ground equipment on SpaceX’s launch pad.

SpaceX fixed the leak, but the company’s Falcon 9 was later grounded by U.S. regulators due to a booster recovery failure during an unrelated mission, further delaying the Polaris launch. Tuesday’s launch was delayed by about two hours due to adverse weather.

Jared Isaacman, 41, a pilot and billionaire founder of electronic payments company Shift4, is financing the Polaris mission, as he did for SpaceX’s Inspiration4 flight in 2021. He declined to say how much he paid for the mission, but it likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Accompanying him were mission pilot Scott Poteet (50), a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel, SpaceX employee Sarah Gillis (30), and Anna Menon (38), both senior engineers at the company.rmol news logo article

Editor: RENI ERINA




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