Polaris Dawn crew flies higher than 1966 Gemini 11 orbital record

The top of a white space capsule pokes up from the bottom, and open dark circle at its center, with handrails arcing upward. In the background, a large curve of the earth against black space.

A commercial space crew has flown higher above Earth than anyone who has traveled since the last Apollo astronauts went to the moon.

The four members of the Polaris Dawn mission, riding aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft "Resilience," climbed into an elliptical orbit with a high point, or apogee, of 870 miles (1,400.7 kilometers) on Tuesday (Sep. 10). They reached the record distance about 15 hours after lifting off at 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT) from Florida earlier in the day and circling the planet about eight times in an initial orbit of 118 by 746 miles (190 by 1,200 km)..