SpaceX gears up for Polaris Dawn mission with 4 crew members abroad
(MENAFN) SpaceX is gearing up for its ambitious Polaris Dawn mission, a groundbreaking crewed spaceflight that has faced multiple delays due to technical challenges and weather conditions. The mission, which will see four crew members aboard the Dragon spacecraft launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is set to mark one of SpaceX’s most ambitious projects to date.
Polaris Dawn aims to reach an altitude of approximately 1,400 kilometers (870 miles), which would make it the highest crewed mission since the Apollo era. The mission includes a notable achievement: a spacewalk at 700 kilometers altitude, which is 300 kilometers beyond the International Space Station (ISS) and the first of its kind in half a century. During this spacewalk, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis will perform the first-ever private spacewalk.
The crew for this mission includes Jared Isaacman, the billionaire entrepreneur funding the mission, pilot Scott Poteet, a former US Air Force lieutenant colonel, and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both of whom are SpaceX engineers. Originally scheduled for August 26, the mission has been postponed multiple times due to preflight issues, a helium leak, and adverse weather conditions affecting splashdown areas off the Florida coast.
SpaceX has yet to set a new launch date but has confirmed that attempts on August 28 and 29 will not proceed. Polaris Dawn aims to advance research on the effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health, with a total of 36 planned experiments designed to enhance technology for future lunar and Martian missions. Additionally, the mission will test the Starlink laser-based communications system in space for the first time.
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