Four members of a SpaceX project that will carry out the first personal spacewalk arrived in Florida on Monday ahead of liftoff next week.
The five-day expedition, Polaris Dawn, will be led by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who already contracted the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight in 2021, Inspiration4.
“It’s been two and a half years since we announced the Polaris program. It’s been an exciting journey of progression and education,” Isaacman said at a news conference Monday.
He revealed how much he spent on the program, which includes 3 missions in total and that he is investing jointly with SpaceX.
For travel, the company developed its first generation of futuristic white spacesuits.
“This will be epic,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote in X, which he owns.
The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket is expected to take place before next Monday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Two SpaceX workers will be on the trip: the first, Sarah Gillis, is in astronaut training and trained Isaacman for Inspiration4.
The second, Anna Menon, worked for NASA before SpaceX.
“I’ve spent years looking to put myself in the place of astronauts in space, and I’m looking forward to seeing for myself what that experience is like,” she said.
The fourth passenger is pilot Scott Poteet, a friend of Isaacman.
The quartet underwent extensive training: about 2,000 hours in simulator, spin sessions, diving, skydiving and the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador.
“I can tell you without a doubt that this is one of the toughest educations I’ve ever had,” said Poteet, who flew fighter jets for 20 years in the U. S. Air Force.
The project has 3 major objectives, in addition to the 40 experiments that will be carried out on board.
The first is to reach an altitude of 1,400 kilometers (870 miles), the longest distance for a space team since the Apollo lunar missions.
Since those missions only involved men, Gillis and Menon would be the two women who traveled the furthest from Earth.
For comparison, the International Space Station is located at an altitude of about 400 kilometers. The distance between the Earth and the Moon is 380,000 kilometers.
One of the current objectives of the project is to establish laser communication between the Starlink satellite and the SpaceX satellite.
The most important thing is that, once in lower orbit, the astronauts will perform the first publicity spacewalk, which will be broadcast live on the third day of the mission.
Since the Dragon capsule has an airlock, the entire ship will be exposed to the vacuum of the area when the hatch is opened.
Two passengers will remain on board while the other two will venture outside, and both will take turns performing a spacewalk.
They will perform moves to check out their new spacesuits, adding what Isaacman calls a “hands-free demonstration,” while remaining strapped to the capsule.
The spacesuits are based on those already used by SpaceX, but they have been evolved to withstand extreme temperatures and are equipped with cameras.
“One day, someone might wear a version” of the suit while “walking on Mars,” Isaacman said, adding that it’s “a great honor to have the opportunity to check it out on this flight. “
After this Array, a project similar to Polaris is planned and then a third manned flight is planned on SpaceX’s large Starship rocket, which is currently in development and will finally be destined for the Moon and Mars.
Isaacman praised the industry’s role in helping to “unlock that last frontier. “
“I would like my children to see humans walking on the Moon and Mars and venturing out and exploring our solar system,” he said.
“We haven’t even scratched the surface yet,” he said, adding, “There’s a lot to get out of, explore and notice along the way. “
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