A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon Resilience capsule rests on Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center ahead of the Polaris Dawn mission at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, a daring multi-day orbital expedition that will feature the first-ever spacewalk by private citizens, is aiming for liftoff early Tuesday, though weather could play havoc with the event.
A four-member crew, led by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Iscaacman, also aims to fly deeper into space than any other manned mission in more than half a century, reaching a maximum altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers).
“SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, September 10 at 3:38 a.m. ET (0738 GMT) for the launch of Polaris Dawn by Falcon 9 to low Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida,” SpaceX said in a press release.
There are two other launch possibilities in a four-hour window, at 09:23 GMT and 11:09 GMT, but the weather is currently only 40% favorable. SpaceX will broadcast a webcast on its website about three and a half hours before liftoff.
If the launch goes ahead, the mission’s highlight will be the first spacewalk to be conducted entirely by non-professional astronauts, who will wear sleek, newly developed SpaceX extravehicular activity (EVA) suits equipped with heads-up displays, helmet cameras and an advanced joint mobility system.
On the first day of their mission, the spacecraft will travel so high that it will briefly enter the Van Allen radiation belt, a region teeming with high-energy charged particles that can pose risks to human health over extended periods.
The mission was delayed several times, first due to a technical problem with the launch tower and then due to weather constraints.
The Crew Dragon capsule will not dock with the International Space Station, so weather must be favorable during the launch and splashdown phase, about six days after liftoff.
Two years of preparation
Isaacman declined to reveal his total investment in the project, though reports suggest he paid about $200 million for the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission in September 2021, the first all-civilian orbital mission.
The team is rounded out by mission pilot Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel; mission specialist Sarah Gillis, a SpaceX principal space operations engineer; and mission specialist and physician Anna Menon, also a SpaceX principal space operations engineer.
The quartet underwent more than two years of training for the historic mission, logging hundreds of hours on simulators as well as skydiving, centrifuge training, scuba diving and climbing an Ecuadorian volcano.
Polaris Dawn is expected to be the first of three missions in the Polaris program, a collaboration between Isaacman, the founder of technology company Shift4 Payments, and SpaceX.
Their to-do list also includes testing laser-based satellite communication between the spacecraft and Starlink, SpaceX’s constellation of more than 6,000 internet satellites, in an effort to increase the speed of space communication, and conducting 36 scientific experiments.
Among these tests are contact lenses equipped with microelectronics to continuously monitor changes in eye pressure and shape.
© 2024 AFP
Quote: SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission aims for history with first private spacewalk (2024, September 10) retrieved September 10, 2024 from
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only.
