Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program. It is planned in 2021.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft, carrying four tourists, completed six orbits around the Earth at an altitude of 1,400 km, the highest flight since the US Apollo managed the lunar program more than 50 years ago. In the following hours, the vehicle descended into an orbit of 742 km in preparation for the first spacewalk by non-professional astronauts. This was announced by the developer company SpaceX.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying SpaceX’s Crew Dragon as part of the Polaris Dawn commercial mission launched Wednesday from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program, funded by billionaire Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.
The flight was planned for December 2021, but due to delays in the development of the project, it was repeatedly postponed.
The flight of tourists into orbit should last five days. They will conduct 36 scientific experiments on the effects of space and radiation on human health.
We remind you that SpaceX is developing a 120-meter Starship launch vehicle for the flight to Mars. In June of this year, the rocket made its first successful flight. A total of four launches were conducted and incremental progress was recorded for each.
Source: korrespondent
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