Liftoff imminently: four amateur astronauts are preparing to carry out the first private spacewalk aboard a SpaceX rocket, a new milestone for commercial space exploration. It will take place during a five-day space mission, dubbed “Polaris Dawn” and commanded by American billionaire Jared Isaacman. The Falcon 9 rocket will take off at dawn on Tuesday 27 August from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, at 9:38 a.m. French time.
The billionaire and commander of the “Polaris Dawn” mission, who already traveled to space in 2021 aboard another SpaceX mission he had chartered, Inspiration 4, will be accompanied by three other civilians. The crew includes two SpaceX employees: Sarah Gillis, responsible for training astronauts (including Jared Isaacman for Inspiration4), as well as Anna Menon, who also worked for NASA. Driver Scott Poteet will also be part of the trip.
Not counting the 40 experiments conducted on board, the mission will take travelers to an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, the longest distance since the Apollo lunar missions (the International Space Station operates at about 400 kilometers above sea level, by comparison), before returning to a lower orbit to perform the famous spacewalk. Two passengers will remain aboard the capsule, while two others will take turns venturing outside.
New combinations
In space, these “civilian astronauts” will have to perform movements to test the new, futuristic-looking suits designed for the vacuum of space, developed by SpaceX. Inspired by those already used by SpaceX on its ships, they are capable of withstanding extreme temperatures and, in particular, are equipped with a camera. A test of laser communication between the spacecraft and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites is also planned.
The Polaris program, funded by SpaceX and Jared Isaacman, is expected to include three missions in total. The first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket, currently in development, is planned for the next mission.
Source: BFM TV
