Polaris Dawn Astronauts Reach Record High Orbit Above Earth

Four private astronauts aboard an ambitious space mission led by a billionaire entrepreneur traveled farther from Earth on Tuesday than any other human being in more than half a century.

Two of them, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, have now gone farther from the planet than any other women ever.

The mission, named Polaris Dawn, lifted off through a break of favorable weather before sunrise on Tuesday. The flight had been grounded for nearly two weeks by unsettled weather in and around Florida.

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