This summer, the millionaire, his friend and two SpaceX engineers will rise higher than any person since 1972.

At the end of 2021, SpaceX launched the first-ever private orbital flight. Behind the mission of Inspiration4 was Jared Isaacmanmillionaire, founder of the payment company Shift4 Payments.

Three years later, Isaacman continued to invest most of his resources into SpaceX. Together they created the Polaris program, which would send increasingly complex missions into space, starting with Polaris Dawn, which would be the first civilian spacewalk in history.

Polaris Dawn mission and its crew

Polaris Dawn is scheduled for this summer, before SpaceX launches NASA’s Crew-9 mission, scheduled for August.

Four American civilians will board the Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft, which will be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit before Altitude 1400 kilometers. This is the furthest distance from Earth that man has traveled since the last Apollo mission to the Moon in 1972.

Polaris Dawn will fly over the inner Van Allen Belt, meaning the Crew Dragon spacecraft will be exposed to large amounts of radiation that it would not normally receive when traveling to the International Space Station, which is 400 km above sea level.

After a series of experiments, four crew members will descend into orbit at an altitude of 700 km with an apogee, so that two of them take a space walk. Since the Dragon does not have an airlock, the ship will be depressurized during a two-hour walk. They will all be wearing SpaceX’s new spacesuits, which we’ll talk about below.

“I’m just excited to see history being made.” Isaacman wrote. when asked why he funds these space missions. But the businessman will also be the protagonist of the story, as he will play the role of commander on the Polaris Dawn mission and is one of two people who will carry out the spacewalk.

The Polaris Dawn mission will be piloted by Scott Poteet, a former Air Force fighter pilot and personal friend of Isaacman.

They will be accompanied by two SpaceX Operations Engineers: Sarah Gillies and Anna Menon. Gillies worked with Isaacman during the Inspiration4 mission. Menon also met him then because her husband, astronaut Anil Menon, worked at Inspiration4 as medical director.

This mission will be much more difficult and risky. To begin with, the Crew Dragon ship had to be modified. The docking port has been replaced by a hatch for spacewalks.

In addition, the crew will serve as guinea pigs, testing SpaceX’s new spacewalk (EVA) suits for the first time.

New SpaceX astronaut suits

At first glance, they look very similar to the In-Vehicle Space Suits (ISV) used by Crew Dragon astronauts for travel to the International Space Station, but new suits for spacewalks (EVA) SpaceX is by definition much more complex.

The reason it lacks typical astronaut suit elements, such as a life support backpack, is because it is not finished yet. The suit has only been in development for two years, and its complexity is planned to increase as Polaris missions do the same.

The Polaris Dawn mission’s spacewalk will actually be very low-key, with Jared Isaacman and later Sarah Gillies looking beyond the Crew Dragon through a sort of pool ladder called “Skywalker.” His legs won’t get out of the ship. The crew will be connected to it by umbilicals through which oxygen will circulate.

Despite this, there are many differences between the previous IVA suit and the new EVA suit: new arm joints for easier mobility in space, additions for temperature management, or increased durability to withstand pressures of up to 0.35 bar.

The boots are made from the same material used in the Falcon 9 midsection and the trunk of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, a material that SpaceX knows exactly what temperatures it can withstand based on its years of experience with both vehicles.

The visor is gold because it has a copper layer to protect the crew from solar radiation. It includes a HUD that will project information about blood oxygen levels, humidity, temperature and ship controls into the crew’s field of view. The helmet also has built-in 4K cameraimages of which will be broadcast live via Starlink satellites.

And no, there is no diaper in the suit. If someone were to shrink, they would have to do it to themselves. Fortunately, the spacewalk will last less than two hours.

Suit for colonization of Mars

Polaris Dawn will be a kind of Gemini program for SpaceX to test a new spacesuit that is needed in the company’s plans to build bases on the Moon and Mars.

Elon Musk said that the suit will improve in the coming years, not only with a life support backpack for oxygen, but also with add-ons such as a jetpack for moving in space. The businessman hopes to recoup the development by producing millions of suits for future interplanetary missions.

Images | Polaris program / SpaceX

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