A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket recently took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, it wasn’t taking seasoned astronauts into orbit, rather a crew which consisted of civilians in a mission which is the company’s most novel and riskiest to date.
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00:00This is a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which recently took off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center
00:09in Florida.
00:10However, it wasn't taking seasoned astronauts into orbit, rather a crew which consists of
00:14civilians in a mission which is the company's most novel and riskiest to date.
00:19The mission is named Polaris Dawn and has now taken a billionaire, a retired military
00:23fighter pilot and two SpaceX employees into orbit.
00:27It will undertake the first ever civilian spacewalk, exiting the Crew Dragon module
00:31and experience what only highly trained astronauts have in the past.
00:35The launch was a success with the Falcon 9's booster already having landed safely on its
00:39landing pad in the ocean.
00:41Now the Dragon module and its crew are headed into a parabolic orbit around our planet.
00:45That will include slingshotting around Earth, coming within 118 miles at its closest and
00:50traveling at a maximum distance of around 870 miles at its furthest.
00:55That means this crew isn't simply making history with their spacewalk, but they will also travel
00:59further away from home than any human has since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
01:04Unlike most missions, this one will not dock with the International Space Station, but
01:08rather orbit the planet while conducting experiments and of course, the astronauts historic capsule
01:14exodus.