This first-ever private space shuttle will bring serious style to space.
SpaceX’s private crew mission, Polaris Dawn, is on track to launch sometime this summer. The four-person crew, which includes the mission’s sponsor, billionaire philanthropist Jared Isaacman, recently completed acceptance testing of SpaceX’s extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, which they will wear during the the first private citizens to make a space trip on orbit.
In addition to Isaacman, the crew includes two lead operations engineers at SpaceX, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, who serve as mission specialists, and the mission pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Scott “Kidd” Poteet of the Air Force of the United States who has retired. Training for their upcoming mission has included hands-on work on SpaceX’s new EVA suit, which recently reached its final major development test as crews donned their suits for the first time. first.
“The Polaris Dawn crew recently completed a series of spacesuit acceptance tests in preparation for the rest of the mission,” read a news release on the mission’s website. Wearing their EVA suits in a vacuum for the first time allowed SpaceX to collect a lot of different data before the next crew mission, when they will wear the suits in the vacuum of space.
According to the Polaris website, the vacuum environment has allowed SpaceX to gather more information about what to expect during an actual EVA:
- “Knowing how a space suit works in vacuum;
- The collection of spacesuits and biometric data to assess the overall performance of the system in a space such as an airplane;
- An understanding of the general effects of stress changes on their body during the stress process;
- An understanding of the different temperature conditions expected across the site; and
- A high metabolic time for workers to simulate the work expected during the walking distance, as well as a reduced activity time to understand the temperature pattern of the body throughout the process”
Several photos from the test were uploaded to Polaris Porgram’s Flickr account, showing SpaceX’s new, albeit conventional, spacecraft design. Polaris Dawn is the follow-up mission to SpaceX’s first astronaut proposal, Inspiration4, also funded by Isaacman, and the first of three possible for the Polaris Program. Each will help raise money for the children’s cancer research center in St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Related: SpaceX unveils new EVA suit for first private space on upcoming Polaris Dawn spacecraft (video)
The first pictures of SpaceX’s EVA suit, which, on the outside, looks like a lot of their intravehucliar activitivy (IVA) suits – pressure suits that are worn during launch and landing, but are not designed to work in the open space environment. – were revealed on the company’s website on May 4.
But new Polaris Dawn images from recent tests highlight the differences between the IVA and EVA suits.
The suit’s helmet, in particular, got some upgrades, including a new heads-up display for astronauts to see things like their suits’ internal pressure, temperature and humidity. SpaceX’s EVA suits also have new input devices and integrated improvements for navigation and thermal management.
Related: Meet the four Polaris Dawn spacecraft SpaceX will launch this year
Polaris Dawn is scheduled to last five days, and will include about 40 different science tests for the crew to perform while in space, including testing the new EVA suits and flight capabilities. -in Crew Dragon’s space while they are exposed to the vacuum.
Let’s look forward to July 31st for the launch of Polaris Dawn pic.twitter.com/gVicWmMNE5July 3, 2024
The Polaris crew had been eyeing July 31 for the launch of their historic mission, according to a July 3 post on X, but that date may have been heavily tested after a recent event of the launch of a set of SpaceX Starlink satellites.
The launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on July 11 that carried 20 additions to the company’s megaconstellation of satellites ended in failure, and the second stage had an incident that led to a serious loss of payload all. As a result, all production of the Falcon 9 has been suspended, pending the results of investigations from SpaceX and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The launch of the Falcon 9 may affect NASA’s future plans for the International Space Station (ISS), which was scheduled to launch a cargo and crew mission to the space station in the coming months.
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