SpaceX Polaris Blasts Off, Billionaire to Take First Private Spacewalk

(Cape Canaveral, FL) -- SpaceX is celebrating an historic launch from Florida's Space Coast overnight which will include an epic spacewalk.

The Polaris Dawn mission finally got off the ground with a successful launch after being delayed several times due to a helium leak and bad weather.

If everything goes as planned, two of the four civilian astronauts, including a daredevil billionaire, will take part in the first-ever commercial spacewalk.

Tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman helped foot the bill with SpaceX and along with a pair of SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot hope to walk farther than anyone since NASA’s Apollo moonshots.

The spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday, midway through the five-day flight which will end with a splashdown off the Florida coast.

“We’re sending you hugs from the ground,” Launch Director Frank Messina radioed after the crew reached orbit. “May you make history and come home safely.”

Isaacman replied: “We wouldn’t be on this journey without all 14,000 of you back at SpaceX and everyone else cheering us on.”

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