① Four amateur astronauts will embark on the farthest journey from Earth in over 50 years and carry out SpaceX's first extravehicular activity; ② The launching mission will be carried out by a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, and the manned Dragon spacecraft of the Shenzhou will execute its third space mission; ③ The next goal of Polaris Dawn is to reach Mars.
The first commercial spacewalk mission by humans has been delayed for half a month and finally launched today (September 10th).
At 5:23 am Eastern Time on September 10th (17:23 Beijing Time), the Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft took off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, sending four passengers into space. They will embark on the farthest space journey from Earth in over 50 years (about 1,400 kilometers away from Earth) and carry out SpaceX's first extravehicular activity, which will also be the first commercial spacewalk in history.
The entire mission is expected to last 6 days (with 5 days in space). SpaceX broadcasted the launch, and there was thunderous applause and cheers at the moment the spacecraft broke free from the Earth's gravity and headed into space.
The launching mission is carried out by a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, with the serial number B1083.4. The rocket ascended for about 9 minutes and 35 seconds, and the first and second stages successfully separated. The first stage rocket, B1083.4, successfully landed on an unmanned recovery ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The manned Dragon spacecraft, carrying astronauts, is embarking on its third space mission, with the serial number C207.3. After 12 minutes of launch, the Dragon spacecraft successfully separated from the rocket and reached an initial orbit of 190 kilometers. It then initiated the automatic flight program, officially starting a 5-day mission in near-earth orbit.
Afterwards, the Dragon spacecraft will initiate a two-day pre-breathe process in preparation for the spacewalk on September 12th. The height of this spacewalk will be 700 kilometers from Earth, and it will be the slowest point in the spacecraft's flight, lasting 15-20 minutes.
The mission is named "Polaris Dawn" and is carried out by SpaceX, a company owned by Musk. Previous attempts to launch the "Polaris Dawn" mission in late August failed due to launch pad malfunctions and weather delays.
Since the completion of the International Space Station in 2000, international astronauts have conducted approximately 270 spacewalks, all of which have been carried out by professional astronauts trained by relevant countries.
The reason why this mission is referred to as the "first commercial spacewalk" for humans is that all participants are amateur astronauts, including the mission leader Jared Isaacman, SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, as well as Isaacman's long-term partner, retired US Air Force pilot Scott Poteet.
During the mission, Isaacman and Gillis will take turns to spacewalk, while the other three will remain in their seats, responsible for monitoring the astronauts' suit oxygen umbilicals and checking if all telemetry data on the cabin displays are normal. At the same time, the entire process will be constantly monitored and emergency protected by the Dragon ground team to ensure the astronauts' safety.
"Polaris Dawn" mission plans a total of three launches, with the third mission potentially being the first crewed flight of SpaceX's "Starship", aiming to transport humans and cargo to Mars and beyond. As Isaacman envisions: at some point in the future, there will be a fleet of "Starships" arriving at Mars, and people must be able to take walks outside.
Musk also stated on the 7th that SpaceX plans to launch an unmanned "Starship" spacecraft to Mars within two years.
Undoubtedly, this is the most challenging of the 14 space missions carried out by SpaceX in the five years since the introduction of commercial crewed spaceflight in 2020.
Looking back on SpaceX's space journey from near to far—
This launch is the 88th Falcon rocket launch of the year for SpaceX, the 90th orbit-level launch of the year, the 84th reuse of the first stage rocket, the 315th total reuse of rockets, the 382nd successful launch in total, and the 402nd space launch in total.
It is also the 346th successful rocket recovery for SpaceX in total, the 272nd rocket recovery at sea, and the 5th successful rocket recovery after the B1062.23 landing failure. (During the launch on August 28, 2024, the rocket exploded when it attempted to land on an unmanned recovery ship in the Atlantic China welding consumables,inc., marking the first landing failure since February 2021 and interrupting the Falcon 9 rocket's consecutive successful recovery record.)
Over the past decade, the Falcon 9 has completed 5 iterations. Currently, only the Falcon 9 Block 5 version is still in operation, with a stronger reusability compared to the four retired versions.
In February of this year, after the 300th successful launch of the Falcon 9, SpaceX's official website updated the data: the Falcon 9 has been reused 232 times and has landed a total of 258 times.