SpaceX is set to attempt the first private spacewalk in history on Wednesday night, a risky undertaking whose live broadcast promises to be gripping.
The Polaris Dawn mission was launched by billionaire Jared Isaacman, 41, who will be one of two passengers to briefly venture outside the spacecraft. The second will be Sarah Gillis, a SpaceX employee.
The other two members of the mission, pilot Scott Poteet and fellow SpaceX employee Anna Menon, will remain seated aboard the Dragon capsule to ensure everything goes as planned.
The ship is not equipped with an airlock, however, the entire crew will be exposed to the vacuum of space once the hatch is opened.
The aim of the operation is to test the very first suits of Elon Musk’s company, intended for space, white and with a futuristic look.
The spacewalk is scheduled to be attempted on Thursday at 2:23 a.m., at an altitude of about 700 km above Earth – the International Space Station (ISS) is about 400 km above Earth. Another opportunity is possible at the same time on Friday.
Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis are scheduled to go out in turns, for 15 to 20 minutes each.
They will not float untethered in space, but will use a structure called Skywalker, placed on the front of the capsule and composed of bars, to hold on and perform movements.
“It’s going to feel a little bit like we’re dancing,” Jared Isaacman explained at a press conference last month.
The suits are connected by cords to the ship to supply them with oxygen in particular.
In total, the spacewalk is expected to last about two hours – much less than the spacewalks of government agency astronauts outside the ISS, where they also perform highly technical tasks.
“Looks so cool”
Still, given the altitude and the circumstances, “the risk is certainly not zero,” former NASA chief Sean O’Keefe told AFP. “And it’s certainly higher than anything that’s been done by the commercial sector to date.”
Since the first so-called “extravehicular” exit in 1965, all have so far been carried out by professional astronauts.
The suits of the four adventurers are derived from those already used by SpaceX inside its ships.
They have undergone several improvements to be able to withstand extreme temperatures or improve their mobility. The visor provides thermal and sun protection.
They are also equipped with a camera, and information on the pressure, temperature and humidity of the suit is directly displayed in the helmet.
“It’s an incredible combination. It took a long time to get to this point,” Sarah Gillis said in August. “And they look so cool.”
SpaceX hopes to be able to produce “millions” of them in the future, in order to enable humanity to become a multi-planetary species – its stated goal.
“Someday someone might wear a version of this on Mars,” so it’s “a great honor” to test them, said Jared Isaacman, CEO of financial firm Shift4.
Commercial exploration
The mission, which also includes around thirty experiments as well as a laser communications test, took off from Florida on Tuesday for around five days.
On the first, the capsule ventured up to 1,400 km in altitude, further than any crew since the Apollo lunar missions more than half a century ago.
Polaris Dawn marks a new milestone in commercial space exploration, with its commander, Jared Isaacman, championing the value of private investment to accelerate the conquest of the cosmos.
Polaris Dawn inaugurates the Polaris program, announced two and a half years ago and which is to include three missions.
After a second similar to the one currently underway, the third should be the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket, currently in development and intended for trips to the Moon and Mars.