SpaceX set to blast off for first-ever private spacewalk adventure in just few days!
From manufacturing to operating satellites and conducting missions, private companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Axiom Space have enhanced the access to the space. Meanwhile, we are entering into a brand new era of space exploration with the announcement of the Polaris Dawn mission. Elon Musk's SpaceX is preparing for its first revolutionary step in space tourism. In this article, we will discuss about private spacewalk, importance of this mission and why Elon Musk termed it as ‘Epic’.
Apart from SpaceX’s revolutionary approach, the mission is on limelight due to the participation of an American self-made billionaire, Jared Isaacman, 41, who is the founder of the payments processing company Shift4 Payments. Along with Isaacman, other crew members are Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, and Sarah Gillis.
Credit - @rookisaacman X handle
Currently, Isaacman and the crew are preparing for ‘ghost ride’ in space. According to company website, “After the Polaris Dawn mission gets launched, it will not link up with the ISS but will take Isaacman and his comrades farther from the orbit of the moon.”
The spacecraft will reach a high orbit around 700 kilometers above the Earth. Since Apollo’s manned moon mission, this will be the highest-altitude crewed flight. As per planning, the crew members will stay there for 5 days and perform spacewalk.
SpaceX owner Elon Musk recently hailed this upcoming Polaris Dawn mission as “epic”. Among many, what’s getting Elon Musk more excited is the mission’s ambitious plan to conduct the first-ever commercial spacewalk. Only two crew members Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, the lead space operations engineer at SpaceX will be participating in spacewalk.
The Polaris team conducted a practice flyover at Kennedy Space Center this morning ahead of Falcon 9 going vertical on pad 39A later this week pic.twitter.com/WyOUT9sFWi
— Polaris (@PolarisProgram) August 22, 2024
Credit - @PolarisProgram X handle
It is probably one of the biggest steps for civilian space travel. The data collected will be used for analysing human health in space. Human body’s reaction to this extremely low gravity area will be a big leap for alternate space habitation. Another important aspect is checking Starlink WiFi for future space mission communication.
What is fiction? It's only tomorrow's reality! When the movie “A Trip to the Moon” was released in 1902, it was termed as fiction, which later turned into reality as soon as humans landed on the Moon for the first time in 1969. The participation of private spaceflight organisations from the middle of 20th and in ongoing 21st century have greatly impacted space exploration as well as commercialization of the space industry. This will surely have a huge impact on future space policies opening the door for public interest and investments.
GoPro footage during spacewalk shows curvature of Earth and people still think Earth is flat.pic.twitter.com/yN8oG2Gp5J
— Curiosity (@MAstronomers) July 22, 2024
Credit - @MAstronomers X handle
“Building a base on the moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of spacesuits,” SpaceX said. “The development of this suit and the execution of the extravehicular activities (EVA) will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions,” the company added.
The highly anticipated mission is aiming for liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 27 at 3:38 a.m. EDT (0738 GMT) during a four-hour launch window. SpaceX will conduct live streaming of the launch and different aspects of the mission.
