This is a new step in commercial space exploration. SpaceX launched its Polaris Dawn mission on Tuesday, September 10, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, which should allow for the first private extravehicular exit in history: floating in space while exiting the spacecraft.
The private mission, which has a crew of four (a billionaire, a pilot and two Space X employees), will last five days. The spacewalk of two of them, lasting fifteen minutes, will be broadcast live on the third day of the mission. The spacecraft must first venture to an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, the greatest distance for a crew since the Apollo lunar missions.
“Polaris Dawn takes off!”“Elon Musk’s company announced on the social network X, to illustrate a photograph of the rocket taken during takeoff. The takeoff had been postponed several times over the past two weeks, in particular due to bad weather conditions.
More than two years of training
The commander of this mission is American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who has been collaborating with Elon Musk’s company for several years and is partly financing the trip (for an undisclosed amount). One of the main objectives is to test the company’s first space suits. “I imagine that one day many people or even families will be jumping around on the lunar surface in their SpaceX suits”Jared Isaacman said at a press conference in August.
The latter had already traveled to space in 2021 aboard another SpaceX orbital mission he had contracted, Inspiration4, the first that did not include any professional astronauts.
This is also the first time that SpaceX employees have gone into space: Sarah Gillis is responsible for the company’s astronaut training and Anna Menon worked for NASA before joining SpaceX. They are set to become the women who have travelled the most from Earth. The fourth passenger is pilot Scott Poteet, a former US Air Force veteran and close friend of Jared Isaacman. The four adventurers have undergone intensive training for more than two years.
During the spacewalk, since SpaceX’s Dragon ship is not equipped with an airlock, the entire crew will be exposed to the vacuum of space once the hatch is opened. Two passengers will remain on board, while two others will venture outside in turn, for approximately fifteen minutes each. While attached to the capsule, they will perform movements to test out new combinations.
