Polaris Dawn Makes History: Tourists undertake first spacewalk on private SpaceX mission
Jared Isaacman performed the world's first private spacewalk this Thursday morning (12), when he left the SpaceX capsule attached to a rope, floating in the vacuum of space hundreds of kilometers from Earth.
Moment in which Jared Isaacman leaves the Crew Dragon spacecraft and floats in space for about 10 minutes - Photo Reproduction / SpaceX / Handout via Reuters
The Polaris Dawn mission, part of an ambition of the private space program, made history by carrying out the first spacewalk carried out by two crew this Thursday morning (12). This groundbreaking mission, which marks a significant step in commercial space exploration, saw four ordinary citizens, with no prior experience as astronauts, perform extravehicular activities (EVA) outside of Earth's orbit, something previously reserved exclusively for highly trained astronauts from space agencies.
Each of the crew members spent about 10 minutes outside the bullet-shaped Crew Dragon capsule. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire of 41 years who financed the trip, was the first to leave the Crew Dragon spacecraft and floated into space at 7:52 am (Brasília time). Then, at 8:05 am, it was Sarah's turn Gillis, space operations engineer at SpaceX. After a few minutes outside the ship, at around 8:19 am, both returned to the cabin. During the experiment, they flew over the areas of Australia and Antarctica, around 700 km from Earth, according to the company.
"At home we have a lot of work to do, but from here Earth seems like a perfect world," Isaacman said after exiting the ship.
The Polaris Dawn Mission
The four passengers have been in space since Tuesday (10), when they were launched from the Kennedy Space Center, a NASA base in Florida (USA). The Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon took off after two delays in late August due to unfavorable atmospheric interference. The mission was planned to last five days, with the return scheduled for next Saturday (14). The spacewalk was initially scheduled to start at 3:23 am this Thursday, but SpaceX changed the preparation start time to 5:55 am, without disclosing the reason.
Polaris Dawn is part of the Polaris Program, a series of space missions sent by businessman and pilot Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments and mission commander Inspiration4, SpaceX's first all-civilian space mission in 2021. This time, Polaris Dawn aims to reach the highest altitude ever reached by a crewed mission in Earth's orbit, performing a private spacewalk and testing new technologies, including communications with satellite internet Starlink.
First Private Spacewalka
Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, Polaris mission crew - Photo Reproduction / SpaceX / Handout via Reuters
Before departure, the Crew Dragon was depressurized and exposed to the vacuum of space. The highlight of the mission was a spacewalk performed by two of the four crew members on board, while the other two team members provided supervision and support. They used suits specially developed by SpaceX, made with materials from the company's own rockets. These suits are manufactured with a state-of-the-art visor and camera in the helmet, designed to face the harsh environment of outer space. In addition to providing oxygen, the suits offer protection against radiation, extreme temperatures and micrometeorites.
The spacewalk was carried out at an altitude of about 450 miles (730 km) above the Earth's surface and it lasted one hour and 46 minutes. On Wednesday (11), they reached an altitude of 1,400 km above the Earth's surface, the highest ever reached by humans since the end of the Apollo program in 1972. To compare, the ISS orbits at an altitude of 420 km above the Earth's surface. Earth.
Significance for the Future of Commercial Space Exploration
The completion of this private spacewalk is an important milestone in the democratization of access to space. In addition to opening up new possibilities for space exploration and tourism, the Polaris Dawn mission demonstrates the growing variety of complex commercial space missions, which until recently were the monopoly of national space agencies. In the past, only highly trained, government-funded astronauts have undertaken space travel. Since the creation of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2000, around 270 space trips have been carried out, in addition to 16 by Chinese astronauts at Beijing's Tiangong space station, according to Reuters.
However, the Polaris Dawn team already made history before this experiment. The success of this mission could contribute to the development of more advanced and accessible space technologies, enabling more people to experience space in the future. Furthermore, initiatives like this represent an important step towards establishing permanent bases on the Moon and Mars, and towards humanity's advancement towards a society multiplanetary.
The Promising Future of the Polaris Program
Streamed live on the SpaceX website, the mission tested innovative equipment, including advanced space trajectories and a process to completely depressurize the Crew Dragon cabin. This technology is something that Elon Musk hopes to develop for future ambitious private missions to Mars. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson highlighted the importance of Thursday's achievement. Nelson touted the success of the Crew Dragon, developed with NASA support over about a decade, expecting it to be a significant advancement for the commercial space industry.
He also highlighted that this achievement is in line with NASA's goal of promoting a vibrant space economy in the US. On the other hand, Isaacman did not reveal the exact amount he is paying for the missions, but it is estimated that the total cost of operations could reach hundreds of millions of dollars, considering that the Crew Dragon price is approximately US$ 55 million per seat on other flights.
The Polaris Program already has other missions planned, each one more ambitious than the last, but no names or dates have yet been announced. What is known is that a “Mission II” will be carried out aboard a Crew Dragon and will aim to continue expanding the limits of future human space missions, as well as improving communication in space and promoting scientific research. On the other hand, “Mission III” is even more audacious: it will be the first manned mission aboard a Starship, a spacecraft being developed by SpaceX, designed to take crew members to the Moon and, eventually, Mars.
