The American company SpaceX has launched a commercial mission, Polaris Dawn, carrying four non-professional astronauts.
The Crew Dragon ship launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Both stages of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully separated.
About nine and a half minutes after launch, the booster landed on the Atlantic Ocean’s Just Read the Instructions platform.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft separated from the Falcon 9 upper stage more than 12 minutes after launch.
The Polaris Dawn mission will last five days. The team consists of four people: billionaire Jared Isaacson, who financed the Polaris mission with SpaceX; retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Potit; and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon, and Sarah Gillis.
The first spacewalk by non-professional astronauts is scheduled for September 12 as part of the mission. Only Isaacman and Gillis are planned to perform it.
The Polaris Dawn mission will be the farthest flight since the American moon landed 50 years ago.
The crew will also test Starlink laser communications and SpaceX-developed spacesuits and investigate the effects of space flight and radiation on human health.
The five-day flight was initially scheduled to begin on August 27 but was postponed due to a helium leak.