After five eventful days in space, including the first-ever commercial spacewalk, the private astronaut crew of Polaris Dawn returns to Earth.
If all goes according to plan, the SpaceX Dragon Resilience capsule — which has been home to the orbiting crew of four private astronauts for the past five days — will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida, on Sept. 11. Sunday, September 15in about 3:36 AM ET (0736 GMT), SpaceX said in an update that the landing will mark the end of the Polaris Dawn mission, a mission aimed at demonstrating the mobility and functionality of SpaceX’s new spacesuit, and completing the first spacewalk in history by a private citizen.
Polaris Dawn return coverage will begin approximately one hour before landing. 2:36 AM EST (0636 GMT) It will be available on SpaceX account page And on SpaceX Polaris Dawn Mission Page.
The Polaris Dawn spacecraft launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Tuesday (September 10) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission is being led (and funded) by billionaire philanthropist Jared Isaacman. Isaacman also commanded SpaceX’s Inspiration4 spacecraft in 2021, the first all-civilian spaceflight, which also flew aboard SpaceX’s Resilience Dragon capsule. This time, Isaacman is joined by mission pilot Scott “Kid” Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, as mission specialists.
Related to: SpaceX Polaris Dawn Astronauts Perform First Private Spacewalk in Orbit (Video)
As with the Inspiration4 campaign, Polaris Dawn raised money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The Inspiration4 campaign has raised over $250 million.
Aboard Resilience, the spacecraft flew its initial orbits during the mission’s first days through parts of the Van Allen radiation belt, as close as 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) from Earth — an altitude never before reached by a woman, making Gillis and Menon the farthest astronauts in history, and farther than any manned mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
While in their high elliptical orbit, the Polaris Dawn crew completed more than 35 experiments to study the effects of the new microgravity environment on the human body, before lowering their altitude in preparation for the most important aspect of their mission – the historic spacewalk.
The Polaris Dawn spacewalk came on the third day of the crew’s mission and lasted about two hours. Taking turns ascending through the Crew Dragon’s upper hatch, Isaacman and Gillis performed a series of motion tests to evaluate SpaceX’s new spacesuits. Using a specially designed motion hull that SpaceX engineers have dubbed “Skywalker,” Isaacman and Gillis spent several minutes, most of it outside the Dragon’s hatch, enjoying views of Earth below as they completed suit checks.
Early this morning, via Starlink’s space lasers, the Polaris Dawn crew chatted with SpaceX teams over coffee and donuts 🍩🛰️ pic.twitter.com/nZ9v0VSyr5September 14, 2024
In addition to the spacewalk and other experiments, the Polaris Dawn crew accomplished another feat by using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network to send data and content from orbit. Amid their busy schedule, the crew was able to post on social media, send videos, photos, tributes and even a musical performance back to Earth.
On Saturday (Sept. 14), they spoke via Starlink video directly to SpaceX employees and guests during a 40-minute space-to-Earth call that appeared to go smoothly, with no connectivity issues even as the Dragon capsule fired its engines 16 times, SpaceX said in an X update.
The crew was originally scheduled to launch into space on August 26, but the date was delayed by several days due to weather conditions in the mission’s landing areas.
With only limited supplies on board for five days in orbit, and no opportunity to rendezvous with another resupply center like the International Space Station, the conditions for Polaris Dawn to recover after splashdown in the ocean are critical to the mission.
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