Last Thursday, astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission completed a record-setting spacewalk. It was the first spacewalk ever managed by private companies instead of a government. The mission could mark an important shift in the way humans explore space.
Polaris Dawn – a Private Space Mission
Polaris Dawn is a mission organized by private companies. The project uses technology created by SpaceX, a company run by billionaire Elon Musk. Much of the money for the project came from billionaire Jared Isaacman. Mr. Isaacman was also behind a 2021 mission which sent four “ordinary people” into space.
Jared Isaacman, who has flown in space once before, was in charge of the crew. The other three astronauts were Sarah Gillis, Anna Menon and Scott Poteet. None of the crew are professional astronauts. But Mr. Isaacman and Mr. Poteet are both pilots, and Ms. Menon and Ms. Gillis have years of experience organizing space missions.
(Source: SpaceX, Polaris Program Photos, via Flickr.com.)
The Polaris Dawn mission blasted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on September 10. The goal of the mission was to test SpaceX’s technology. One important goal was to see how the Crew Dragon spacecraft and its instruments handled the radiation in the Van Allen belts. These belts contain high-energy particles that can cause problems for spacecraft.
The Dragon capsule carrying the astronauts passed through the Van Allen belts on their way to the highest point of their trip, 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) above Earth. That’s farther than any astronauts have gone since 1972, when NASA astronauts visited the moon. Ms. Menon and Ms. Gillis are the only women to travel so far into space.
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The Polaris Dawn mission blasted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on September 10, above. The goal of the mission was to test SpaceX’s technology. The Dragon capsule carrying the astronauts reached 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) above Earth. That’s farther than any astronauts have gone since 1972
After the spacecraft had dropped back down closer to Earth, it was time for the record-setting spacewalk. The spacewalk was meant to test SpaceX’s new spacesuits. The suits are much lighter and easier to move in than NASA’s suits. They’re not designed to work in space on their own. Instead, they connect to the spacecraft with a tube, which provides air and temperature control.
The Dragon capsule doesn’t have an airlock, so there’s no way to go out of the spacecraft without letting the air out. That meant all four of the astronauts had to put on their spacesuits, since they would all be exposed to the vacuum of space.
The spacewalk didn’t last long. The goal was to test moving in the suits, and practice using tools. Mr. Isaacman went first, climbing up a ladder and standing with half of his body outside the spacecraft. Looking down at planet Earth, he said, “Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.”
(Source: SpaceX, Polaris Program Photos, via Flickr.com.)
After Mr. Isaacman came down, Ms. Gillis climbed up the ladder and performed similar tests. Ms. Gillis, age 30, is now the youngest person to take part in a spacewalk.
The crew continued to perform tests and experiments all through the five-day mission. On Sunday, the Crew Dragon capsule splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission is being celebrated as an important success. It is the first of three Polaris missions planned by SpaceX and Mr. Isaacman. They hope to bring down the costs of space travel and make it possible for humans to one day go to Mars. If that happens, it just might be private companies, not governments, who are behind it.