Historic Polaris Dawn mission sends 4 into orbit for 1st private space walk

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – SpaceX early Tuesday morning launched the historic Polaris Dawn mission from Kennedy Space Center.

The liftoff was originally set for 3:38 a.m. but was pushed back to 5:23 a.m. due to rain near Launch Complex 39A.

The four-person crew aboard a Dragon capsule was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center.

The mission is expected to set several milestones over the course of five days, including the first commercial spacewalk, testing in-space communications, reaching a higher altitude than even the International Space Station, and conducting critical research about the impact of long-term space flights on human health.

[MEET THE CREW: Here’s who’s going to space on the Polaris Dawn mission]

The crew includes Mission Commander Jared Isaacman, Mission Pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon.

The spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday, midway through the five-day flight. But first the passengers are shooting for way beyond the International Space Station — an altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers), which would surpass the Earth-lapping record set during NASA’s Project Gemini in 1966. Only the 24 Apollo astronauts who flew to the moon have ventured farther.

The plan is to spend 10 hours at that height — filled with extreme radiation and riddled with debris — before reducing the oval-shaped orbit by half. Even at this lower 435 miles (700 kilometers), the orbit would eclipse the space station and even the Hubble Space Telescope, the highest shuttle astronauts flew.

All four wore SpaceX’s spacewalking suits because the entire Dragon capsule will be depressurized for the two-hour spacewalk, exposing everyone to the dangerous environment.

Isaacman and SpaceX’s Sarah Gillis will take turns briefly popping out of the hatch. They’ll test their white and black-trimmed custom suits by twisting their bodies. Both will always have a hand or foot touching the capsule or attached support structure that resembles the top of a pool ladder. There will be no dangling at the end of their 12-foot (3.6-meter) tethers and no jetpack showboating. Only NASA’s suits at the space station come equipped with jetpacks, for emergency use only.

Pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX’s Anna Menon will monitor the spacewalk from inside. Like SpaceX’s previous astronaut flights, this one will end with a splashdown off the Florida coast.

The Polaris Dawn mission and its series of future missions are named after the North Star.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.