Earth as see from the Crew Dragon spacecraft during SpaceX ’s Polaris Dawn mission . SpaceX
Four non - professional astronauts are now orb Earth inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraftfollowing a successful launchfrom the Kennedy Space Center in Florida too soon on Tuesday .
Jared Isaacman , the billionaire man of affairs who has helped to fund the Polaris Dawn mission , is in reach with Scott Poteet , a strike out U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel , and Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon , both lead space operations locomotive engineer at SpaceX.
Earth as seen from the Crew Dragon spacecraft during SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission.SpaceX
There ’s a lot of buzz around the five - day Polaris Dawn commission , partly because two of the bunch members , Isaacman and Gillis , are lay out to conduct the first commercial spacewalk , which could take place as shortly as Thursday . It will also be the first meter that humans have emerge from a Crew Dragon directly into the vacancy of space , as most Crew Dragon missions call for it docking with the International Space Station ( ISS ) .
The spacewalk will see Isaacman and Gillis conduct the first in - orbit mental testing of the new SpaceX - design extravehicular activity ( EVA ) spacesuits , which represent an upgrade from the current intravehicular ( IVA ) suit . The spacesuit offers greater mobility and comfort than current designs , and the goal is to use a version of it on forthcoming missions to the moon and Mars .
The Crew Dragon will fly as in high spirits as 870 miles ( 1,400 km ) above Earth , making it the highest that humans have jaunt in our planet ’s scope since the Apollo syllabus five decennary ago . The mission also exact the space vehicle way higher than the ISS , which orb Earth at about 250 miles ( 402 kilometers ) up .
The Polaris Dawn crew will also be the first to quiz Starlink laser - ground communicating in space , an endeavor that ’s expected to provide valuable data for future space communications systems necessary for missions to the lunar month , Mars , and beyond .
They ’ll also spend their time working on a great deal of experiment that will admit wellness and human performance enquiry for NASA ’s Human Research Program .
“ The research will help NASA scientists better sympathise how exposure to blank conditions affects the human body,”the space way suppose , impart that the crew will also test new medical approaches and technology on telemedicine capabilities , accumulate data on space motion nausea , and conduct research to better characterize escape - link injury risk of exposure .
