Science
SpaceX's Polaris Dawn Launch: Important Information and Viewing Guide. A non-public mission set to be launched at 3:38 a.m
Eastern time Tuesday after a series of delays, would take people farther from Earth than anyone has traveled since the end of NASA’s Apollo moon missions.
Updated 2024-Oct-05 11:34
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon capsule at the top standing at the launch stand in Florida on a partly cloudy day.
How does this mission differ from Mr. Isaacman s previous space voyage in 2021 which he called Inspiration4 raising funds for St.
Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis? It was the initial journey to space lacking a trained astronaut on board.
Isaacman opted to give tickets to a previous patient at St. Jude Children s Research Hospital now employed as a physician assistant and two contest winners rather than inviting friends.
The Inspiration4 mission orbited Earth for three days before landing in the ocean near Florida. Isaacman referred to Polaris Dawn as a collaborative project with SpaceX aiming to create innovative technologies for Mr.Musk s vision of eventually sending humans to Mars. He refused to disclose the amount of money he or SpaceX was putting into the investment.
In addition to the spacewalk the crew will perform around 40 experiments such as scanning the astronauts brains with magnetic resonance imaging and trying to capture X ray images using radiation from space instead of an X ray machine.
The primary objective of the spacewalk is to evaluate the spacesuits that were developed by SpaceX for this mission.
Very early on Tuesday morning Jared Isaacman a billionaire entrepreneur is scheduled to launch to space for a second time.
The five day mission known as Polaris Dawn is a collaboration between Mr. Isaacman and SpaceX the rocket company led by Elon Musk.
It will mark some milestones for private spaceflight the first spacewalk conducted by nonprofessional astronauts and the farthest journey from Earth by anyone since NASA’s moon landings more than 50 years ago.
How do I watch the Polaris Dawn launch?It is scheduled for 3:38 a. M. Eastern time on Tuesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
If bad weather or technical glitches arise the launch window extends until 7:38 a. M. SpaceX is providing live coverage of the launch on its website and its X account.
Why has the flight been delayed?The launch was scheduled for Aug. 28 but was called off because of a helium leak.
After that unsettled weather around Florida has proved troublesome not so much for the launch but for the splashdown on the sixth day.
The Polaris Dawn mission carries limited amounts of air food and other supplies. Unlike an I. S. S.Mission we don’t have the option to delay long on orbit so we must ensure the forecast is as favorable as possible before we launch Mr.Isaacman explained on X. The weather outlook for the return to Earth appears better but the odds that Polaris Dawn will get off the ground are still iffy.
There is only a 40 percent chance of favorable weather for liftoff. Weather is similarly problematic for Wednesday and improves slightly on Thursday.
If Polaris Dawn cannot launch this week it faces a longer delay because SpaceX needs to start readying the launchpad for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in October.
Who will be on board?In addition to Mr. Isaacman the crew will consist of Scott Poteet a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and pilot who is a longtime friend of Mr. Isaacman’s and two SpaceX employees Anna Menon a lead space operations engineer and Sarah Gillis an engineer who oversees astronaut training.
Gillis will be the only ones leaving the capsule to take part in the spacewalk requiring all four crew members to wear spacesuits.
Photo credit: John Kraus Polaris Program. Menon will stay in the capsule to oversee the umbilical cords and monitor the readings to ensure everything is going smoothly.
The primary objective of the spacewalk is to evaluate the spacesuits that were created by SpaceX for this mission.
The spacesuits have advanced from previous SpaceX missions now offering protection from micrometeroids and temperature.
