Billionaire-led Polaris Dawn mission set to launch for first privately funded spacewalk
Isaacman will be one of four citizen astronauts to return to Earth’s orbit with Elon Musk's SpaceX for the riskiest mission yet in the world of private space tourism.
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman is among a four-man crew set to launch from Florida this week on Space X's Polaris Dawn mission - the riskiest mission yet in the world of private space tourism.
Space X is aiming to launch either late on Thursday or early Friday UK time, with the launch window opening at 4.20pm BST on Thursday.
Isaacman - who self-funded a previous orbit of Earth in 2021 - is among a crew of four who will launch from Florida on the milestone mission which will conduct the first privately managed spacewalk, in which astronauts leave a spacecraft. Spacewalks have only ever been performed by government astronauts until now.
The privately funded Polaris Dawn mission will fly the highest Earth orbit ever at 870 miles - surpassing a record set in 1966 by Gemini 11. It will explore Earth’s radiation belt and see two astronauts ‘walk’ outside the craft.
The crew includes Isaacman’s friend Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, and SpaceX Lead Space Operations Engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. The crew have trained for two years, and all will don SpaceX’s spacesuits while two venture (tethered) out of the craft.
Isaacman, the CEO of electronic payment company Shift4 has funded the mission with sums thought to total hundreds of millions of dollars. He said of the mission: "Whatever risk associated with it, it is worth it. We have no idea what it could do to really change the trajectory of humankind ... there has to be some first steps in this direction.”
When is it happening?
The launch window for the mission begins at 4.20pm UK time (although space launches are prone to delays caused by weather).
The Polaris Dragon mission will take off from SpaceX's launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The mission is expected to last six days, with the spacewalk scheduled for the third day.
What will happen on the spacewalk?
The Extravehicular Activity (EVA) will see two astronauts - Isaacman and Gillis - float outside the spacecraft.
Crew Dragon has no airlock, so its entire cabin will be slowly depressurised ahead of the spacewalk, meaning all four astronauts will be testing out the new spacesuits.
Isaacman and Gillis will then ‘walk’ outside the cabin.
Why are spacewalks so dangerous?
Spacewalks are among the most dangerous activities astronauts undertake, due to space radiation and the risk of impacts from space debris or micrometeoroids.
Isaacman has said that the astronauts will be “surrounded by death”.
Only government astronauts from the US, former Soviet Union and Russia, the European Space Agency, Canada and China have conducted spacewalks.
Using American and Russian spacesuits, over 270 spacewalks have been conducted outside the International Space Station since its inception in 2000.
Bill Gerstenmaier, a SpaceX vice president who was Nasa’s human spaceflight chief until 2020 said: "EVA is a risky adventure. But again, we did all the work to really get ready for this. We kind of built off of what Nasa's heritage was, but I think we've also extended Nasa's heritage a little bit further.”
What’s the point of the mission?
The mission will orbit through the Van Allen radiation belt (a region of charged particles around our planet) and aims to conduct research to further understand the effects of spaceflight and radiation on human health.
The mission will be a major first test of SpaceX's new astronaut spacesuits.
It marks the latest risky commercial milestone that Elon Musk's space company is looking to clinch on the billionaire's stated goal of building colonies on Mars.
