SpaceX announces its first EVA made by a space tourist
(Spacex / Polaris)
SpaceX will conduct three new privately-crewed missions commissioned by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who organized the first such mission in the fall of 2021.
The first flight under the Polaris program will take place on Crew Dragon and will include the first spacewalk by a space tourist, and the astronauts will go on the third flight on Starship.
The Dragon 2 spacecraft was originally created as part of the NASA Commercial Crew Program competition as a means of delivering American astronauts to the ISS.
Later its cargo version was also chosen to deliver cargo to the station.
But the original purpose of the development does not prevent the company from using the ship for other purposes, like conducting its own private missions.
The first one took place in September 2021. When Crew Dragon sent for the first time a crew of four non-trained astronauts into orbit.
The mission lasted three days and passed without docking with the ISS: the crew only observed the Earth and space from orbit through a large glass dome.
Now SpaceX has announced that Jared Isaacman, who sponsored this flight, has ordered three more missions from the company, the program is called Polaris.
The first flight will take place this year, in the fourth quarter. The mission will last five days, during which the ship will also not dock to the ISS.
The company does not disclose the exact parameters of the orbit, but notes that it aims to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown.
In its original form, this wording should mean that the ship will be sent much higher than even geostationary satellites.
But at a press conference about the Polaris program, Isaacman explained that it was about manned flights and the height of the Gemini-11 mission, when the ship with two astronauts climbed to an altitude of 1373 kilometers.
The main feature of the mission will be the first spacewalk by a tourist.
Since Crew Dragon does not have an intermediate chamber, all four crew members will put on spacesuits, after which the ship will equalize pressure with space and the crew will open the ship's main hatch.
It is assumed that after that one of the astronauts with a safety rope will leave the ship.
For this mission, SpaceX will develop new suits designed specifically for going into space, and not in the event of a sudden depressurization of the capsule.
Also on this mission, SpaceX will test the ship's communications with Starlink satellites using laser transceivers.
The second mission under the program will also take place on Crew Dragon, and in the third astronauts will be sent into space already on Starship (the first flight with people on board for this spacecraft). Their dates are not known,
In 2023 the company is scheduled to fly around the Moon on a Starship with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa
This means, the third Polaris mission will take place in 2023, or the company has tacitly postponed or canceled the flyby of the Moon.
Sources:
- Polaris: https://polarisprogram.com/polaris-program-will-undertake-a-series-of-pioneering-spacex-dragon-missions-demonstrating-new-technologies-and-culminating-in-the-first-human-spaceflight-on-starship/
- The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/15/22934797/jared-isaacman-spacex-polaris-program-q-and-a