A crew of four private astronauts is preparing for a risky SpaceX mission that will attempt the first-ever private spacewalk using SpaceX’s new spacesuits and redesigned spacecraft. The mission, called Polaris Dawn, will be launched aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The crew includes billionaire Jared Isaacman, a retired military fighter pilot, and two SpaceX employees. Only government astronauts have previously conducted spacewalks; this is the first commercial spacewalk. Elon Musk described the mission as riskier than usual and emphasized crew safety.
The mission will last about five days in an orbit ranging from 190 km to 1,400 km, the farthest humans have traveled from Earth since Apollo. The spacewalk will occur on the third day at an altitude of 700 km and last around 20 minutes, with the entire cabin depressurized.
Jared Isaacman is funding the mission, which is part of his Polaris program, with future missions planned, including one on SpaceX’s Starship. The crew will participate in scientific experiments to study the effects of cosmic radiation and space vacuum on the human body.
Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon has become NASA’s primary crewed spacecraft. Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, a potential competitor to Crew Dragon, has faced propulsion system issues during its NASA test mission.
