SpaceX preps Polaris Dawn mission featuring first commercial spacewalk - Digital Trends

This twelvemonth should spot the motorboat of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, a follow-up to the successful Inspiration4 voyage that sent 4 backstage citizens to low-Earth orbit for 3 days successful 2021.

Polaris Dawn, which is acceptable to motorboat nary earlier than March, volition enactment 4 backstage citizens — including Jared Isaacman who led the Inspiration4 ngo — into abstraction for 5 days aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon ship.

Aiming for an orbit astir 435 miles (700 km) supra Earth, the unit volition beryllium overmuch further retired than the International Space Station, which orbits astatine astir 250 miles (402 km) supra Earth, and considerably higher than the 364 miles (585 km) reached by the Inspiration4 crew.

The Polaris Dawn ngo is besides acceptable to execute the first-ever commercialized spacewalk, utilizing SpaceX-designed spacesuits.

“Building a basal connected the satellite and a metropolis connected Mars volition necessitate thousands of spacesuits,” the ngo squad says connected its website. “The improvement of this suit and the execution of the [spacewalk] volition beryllium important steps toward a scalable plan for spacesuits connected aboriginal long-duration missions.”

In different first, the Polaris Dawn unit volition trial Starlink laser-based communications successful space, an workout that should supply utile information for aboriginal abstraction communications systems for trips to the moon, Mars, and anyplace other abstraction exploration takes america successful the coming decades.

During the mission, the Polaris Dawn unit volition besides transportation retired technological probe aimed astatine advancing some quality wellness connected Earth arsenic good arsenic our knowing of quality wellness during aboriginal long-duration spaceflights.

Isaacman, laminitis and CEO of Shift4 Payments, volition beryllium joined by Anna Menon, who works astatine SpaceX managing the improvement of unit operations and moving successful ngo power arsenic some a ngo manager and unit communicator. Menon this week shared immoderate images captured during a caller decompression sickness hazard survey involving the crew.

Crewmember Sarah Gillis besides works astatine SpaceX and is tasked with overseeing the company’s astronaut grooming program. Joining these 3 volition beryllium Scott  Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who served 20 years successful assorted roles that included piloting an F-16 combatant jet.

Polaris Dawn volition motorboat from the Kennedy Space Center successful Florida utilizing a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. A factual day for the ngo has yet to beryllium announced.

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