SpaceX launches Polaris Dawn astronauts to attempt world's 1st-ever private spacewalk

[Elderberry]

Space.com By Josh Dinner 9/10/2024

The four-person Polaris Dawn mission launched early this morning (Sept. 10), with the goal of making some spaceflight history.

Polaris Dawn, which aims to conduct the first-ever private spacewalk, lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket today at 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT) from historic Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Pad 39A also hosted most of NASA's Apollo moon launches, which were the last crewed missions to fly as far as the Polaris Dawn astronauts will travel.

Roaring off the launch pad, the rocket's nine Merlin engines cast a blisteringly bright light on the still waters around KSC, climbing the sky as the fire's glow reflected off the low, early morning clouds to disperse a dim yellow hue for miles around the space center, until becoming another shimmering point among the stars.

The launch was originally supposed to occur on Aug. 26, but SpaceX stood down from that attempt to perform more preflight checks. A try the following day was nixed after the mission team detected a helium leak in the equipment supporting the Falcon 9. The liftoff was then delayed multiple times by bad weather, before Mother Nature finally relented today.

About two minutes and 40 seconds into the launch, the Falcon 9's main engines cut off, and the booster separated from the second stage as planned. The booster then performed a series of burns to align its return trajectory with the SpaceX autonomous droneship Just Read the Instructions, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. Approximately 9.5 minutes after liftoff, the rocket touched down on the barge off Florida's eastern coast.

"We wouldn't be on this journey without all 14,000 of you back home and everyone else cheering us on," billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who commands and funds Polaris Dawn, told SpaceX mission control shortly after Crew Dragon deployed into orbit. "We appreciate it. We're gonna get to work now."

The capsule settled into an initial elliptical orbit with a maximum altitude (apogee) of about 745 miles (1,200 kilometers), with the minimum altitude (perigee) holding at about 118 miles (190 km). After a few orbits, Crew Dragon will raise its apogee to about 870 miles (1,400 km) — higher than any human has flown since the final Apollo mission in 1972.

More: https://www.space.com/spacex-polaris-dawn-astronaut-mission-launch-success

[Elderberry]

LIVE: SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew attempts first private spacewalk

Associated Press
#spacex #spacewalk #polarisdawn
Credit: SpaceX

Two crew members of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission – tech billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis – will venture just barely outside their capsule as they soar about 450 miles above Earth to perform the first privately funded spacewalk. Read more here: http://apne.ws/rpp6tnV


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABQBEdOzrV0

[Elderberry]

SpaceX
@SpaceX

Commander @rookisaacman  has egressed Dragon and is going through the first of three suit mobility tests that will test overall hand body control, vertical movement with Skywalker, and foot restraint

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1834183614898241617

[Elderberry]

The first test focuses on using a single hand to control body movement. The spacewalkers will evaluate their ability to move in all directions, hold a single position for 10-15 seconds, and hold position while the other arm is simulating tool use

The second test assesses the crew’s ability to move up and down using Skywalker. @rookisaacman
 and @Gillis_SarahE
 will use both the horizontal and vertical bars and gauge their maximum reach

The third test evaluates using a foot restraint. Jared and Sarah will gauge difficulty in getting in and out of the restraint, how easily they can move their body, the ease with which they can maintain position while hands free or using tools, and recovery from a single foot disengaging

[Elderberry]

SpaceX
@SpaceX
Watch Dragon’s first spacewalk with the @PolarisProgram’s Polaris Dawn crew.

https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1834154037606056327

[Elderberry]

Bill Nelson
@SenBillNelson

Congratulations @PolarisProgram and @SpaceX  on the first commercial spacewalk in history!

Today’s success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and @NASA's long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy.

[Elderberry]

SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission capsule splashes down off Florida

Gulf Today 9/15/2024

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, which made history when its crew conducted the first spacewalk by non-government astronauts, splashed down off the coast of Florida early on Sunday.

The Dragon spacecraft landed in the ocean at 3:37 am (0737 GMT), a webcast of the splashdown showed, with a recovery team deploying in the pre-dawn darkness to retrieve the capsule and crew.

The capsule was lifted from the water and onto the recovery vessel half a hour later.

After brief medical checks, a smiling and waving SpaceX engineer Anna Menon was the first of the crew to exit, followed by engineer Sarah Gillis, pilot Scott Poteet and commander Jared Isaacman. A helicopter was due to transport them to land.

The four-member team led by fintech billionaire Isaacman launched on Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center, quickly journeying deeper into the cosmos than any humans in the past half-century as they ventured into the dangerous Van Allen radiation belt.

They hit a peak altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometres) -- more than three times higher than the International Space Station and the furthest humans had ever travelled from Earth since the Apollo missions to the Moon.

More: https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2024/09/15/spacex-polaris-dawn-mission-capsule-splashes-down-off-florida