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The crew of the first mission in the privately funded Polaris program is climbing new heights to prepare for their record-breaking SpaceX flight later this year.
A mission profile, launch schedule estimate and crew update were recently shared on the website for Polaris, a twin effort between SpaceX and billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. Isaacman funded and commanded SpaceX’s first fully civilian-manned mission, Inspiration4raising more than $240 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in September 2021. A few months later, Isaacman announced the Polaris program.
Polaris will continue to raise money for St. Jude and push the boundaries of manned spaceflight through three separate manned launches, all funded by Isaacman. In his first mission, Polaris Dawn, Isaacman, the commander, will pilot a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft alongside Sarah Gillis, Anna Menon and Scott Poteet. (Both Gillis and Menon work at SpaceX.) Polaris’ second launch will also use a Dragon, but the third is intended to be the first manned mission for SpaceX’s next generation spaceship spacecraft.
Related: SpaceX’s private, all-civilian Inspiration4 mission in photos
The Polaris program unveiling announcement in February this year said the Polaris Dawn mission would feature the first commercial spacewalk and soar to an orbital height higher than any human has reached since the finale. Apollo mission in 1972 – much higher than all manned Dragon launches have achieved to date. Now more details have been released about the Polaris Dawn mission and how the crew members train for it.
The launch of Polaris Dawn is planned for no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year. The Dragon capsule containing Isaacman and his three crew members will lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Falcon 9 pushes the rocket to its limits and will fly the spacecraft to an initial elliptical orbit of 1,200 by 190 kilometers. The dragon will then raise its apogee (highest point above the Earth) to 870 miles (1,400 km) using its Draco thrusters. The spacecraft will remain in that elliptical orbit for a while, then lower its zenith to 435 miles (700 km). For context, the International Space Station runs at an average elevation of about 250 miles (400 km).
Because Polaris Dawn will be the first spacewalk, or extravehicular activity (EVA), from a private astronaut, SpaceX has had to develop its own commercial EVA suites. A Dragon EVA requires the spacecraft’s main cabin to be depressurized in the same way as NASA’s Twin capsules were during the early days of human spaceflight. That means everyone on board will be wearing suits designed for exposure to the vacuum of space.
The recent update of the Polaris program (opens in new tab)posted on June 9, states that teams have been working “on multiple fronts” to design and test SpaceX’s new EVA suits, while continuing to refine the specific research and experiments to be included in the Polaris Dawn mission. assessed and selected.
Over the past three months, teams from SpaceX and Polaris have also helped crew members prepare for the mission. For example, the group underwent indoor diving training in California to practice the types of nonverbal communication and crew support techniques needed during EVAs. Once comfortable in the pool, the crew was able to dive offshore from California’s Catalina Island to experience different physiological responses related to pressure change.
Recently, the team has been doing extensive high-altitude hikes in Ecuador, including a climb to the country’s second-highest mountain, Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi is 5,897 meters high and reaching the summit required the Polaris Dawn crew to cross glaciers and acclimate to drastic elevation changes.
The June 9 update states that the crew will undergo simulations with the Dragon spacecraft in the coming months, as well as participate in some vomit-comet-style centrifuge exercises, and work on recognizing and dealing with signs of hypoxia. .
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