Credit: @Ymh117 WILMINGTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Many people across New England found themselves looking to the sky early Tuesday morning as one of their own rocketed into space as part of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission. New Hampshire native Scott Poteet is one of four private citizens taking part in the flight. If all goes according to plan, the mission will include the first commercial spacewalk in the history of human spaceflight. The flight will also take humans on their farthest trip from Earth since the end of NASA’s Apollo program in the 1970s. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket being used in the Polaris Dawn mission lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida shortly before 5:30 a.m. after a series of delays in recent days postponed the beginning of the planned five-day mission. SpaceX shared video and photos of the launch in a series of posts on X. Moments later, more than 1,000 miles north of the launch site, several other people shared their own photos. Among the photos, X user @Ymh117 showed the Falcon 9 streaking over Wilmington, Mass. https://twitter.com/Ymh117/status/1833441748128796848 Jeffrey Scales said he saw the rocket from the summit of Mount Wachusett during an early-morning hike. Credit: Jeffrey Scales The Polaris Dawn crew will conduct roughly 40 health research experiments and test our new spacesuits. Its groundbreaking spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday. Among other firsts, the mission could also mark the farthest any woman has ever traveled into space. So long as the mission sticks to its plan, the crew capsule will return to earth with a splashdown off the coast of Florida. A University of New Hampshire graduate, 7NEWS spoke to Poteet’s former college track and field coach earlier this month. James Boulanger said he feels Poteet is ready for the challenge he is now undertaking and wished him well as he adds the title of “astronaut” to a resume that already includes time as an Air Force pilot. (Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) Join our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox Email address