Billionaire and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted about his company’s new space mission — the first private spacewalk — on social media on Aug. 22.
“This will be the first spacewalk by a commercial company and the farthest spacewalk by a person from Earth in more than half a century!” Musk posted on his social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
The official SpaceX account has also posted a video showing the launch of the Polaris Dawn program scheduled to launch at 3.38 am IST on August 27 (Tuesday – Eastern Time).
The spacewalk, formally known as Extravehicular Activity (EVA), is planned for the third day of the event, Reuters reports.
So far, only government astronauts from the United States, the erstwhile Soviet Union and Russia, the European Space Agency (ESA), Canada and China have carried out spacewalks, reports Reuters. More than 270 spacewalks have been carried out outside the International Space Station (ISS) since its inception in 2000. All these spacewalks have used American and Russian spacesuits.
This will be the first spacewalk by a commercial company and the farthest a human has traveled from Earth in over half a century! https://t.co/eYQnMo1nrK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 22, 2024
Four crew members, first private spacewalk
Four astronauts on SpaceX’s five-day Polaris Dawn expedition will perform the world’s first private spacewalk, AFP reported. The crew, including mission commander Jared Isaacman, mission specialist and medical officer Anna Menon, mission specialist Sarah Gillis and mission pilot Scott Poteat, arrived in Florida on August 19 ahead of their historic takeoff.
An American billionaire, Isaacman is the CEO of electronic payments company Shift4 and head of the Polaris program associated with SpaceX. He is known for chartering ‘Inspiration4’ in 2021, the first all-civilian orbital spaceflight. “It’s been two and a half years since we announced the Polaris program. It’s been a really exciting journey of development and training,” he said in a press conference on August 19.
The report said that it is noteworthy that they have jointly invested with SpaceX in three mission programs, but they did not disclose the amount invested.
- The first goal is to reach an altitude of 1,400 kilometers (870 miles), the longest distance for a space crew since the Apollo lunar missions. It will also make Gillis and Menon the first women to travel the farthest from Earth.
- For reference, the International Space Station (ISS) is at an altitude of about 400 km, and the distance between Earth and the Moon is 380,000 km, AFP reported.
- The second objective is to test laser communications between the spacecraft and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.
- And thirdly, most importantly, after reaching low orbit, the astronauts will perform the first commercial spacewalk, which will be broadcast live, on the third day of the mission. Each pair will have to perform spacewalks in turns.
- This trip will be followed by a second similar Polaris mission, and then a third planned trip will be the first crewed flight on SpaceX’s huge Starship rocket, which is currently under development and aimed eventually at trips to the Moon and Mars.
- “Someday, someone may wear a version of this suit while walking on Mars. It’s a huge honor to have the opportunity to test it on this flight. I would certainly like my kids to see humans walking on the Moon and Mars and exploring our solar system. We haven’t even touched the surface yet. There’s a lot on the way to explore and discover,” Isaacman said.
(With inputs from AFP and Reuters)
