📷 Image Credits: CGTN
SpaceX is gearing up for its most ambitious crewed mission to date with the upcoming launch of Polaris Dawn, the first of three anticipated missions in the Polaris Program. Funded by billionaire philanthropist Jared Isaacman, this mission aims to push the boundaries of private spaceflight by including the company’s first spacewalk-capable spacesuits and a Crew Dragon capsule with modifications for vacuum exposure.
Polaris Dawn, scheduled to launch in the summer of 2024, will fly its Dragon spacecraft higher than any crewed mission since the Apollo Program. The crew, led by Jared Isaacman, includes retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel Scott Poteet, SpaceX’s lead space operations engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
With a mission duration of five days, the crew will conduct around 40 experiments, including a groundbreaking laser-communication experiment using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network. The mission will reach a maximum altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers), higher than any human has flown since the Apollo missions, and conduct research in the Van Allen radiation belt.
One of the key highlights of the mission will be the first private spacewalk, as the crew tests and validates SpaceX’s new EVA suits specially designed for the mission. Without an airlock on Dragon, the crew will undergo a unique pre-breathe protocol to prepare for the EVA.
The Polaris Dawn crew is set to make history with this mission, pushing the boundaries of private spaceflight and paving the way for future missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond.