The Polaris Dawn mission crew has completed a series of acceptance tests of SpaceX’s new spacesuit. It was the last major milestone on the way to the first ever private spacewalk.
Main objectives of the Polaris Dawn mission
The Polaris Dawn mission is funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman. As part of it, Crew Dragon, with four people on board, will make a solo flight to Earth orbit.
The upcoming flight has three main objectives. First, Crew Dragon will have to enter orbit with an apogee of 1400 km and break the altitude record set back in 1966 by the Gemini 11 mission. Second, dozens of scientific experiments will be conducted during the flight. The purpose of many of them will be to study the impact of increased radiation levels on astronauts’ health.
Finally, the Polaris Dawn mission will conduct the first-ever private spacewalk. It will be attended by Isaacman, as well as mission specialist Sarah Gillis. The operation will take place at an altitude of 500 km, which is comparable to the Hubble telescope orbit altitude.
Vacuum chamber tests
Since Crew Dragon doesn’t have a separate airlock, the astronauts will have to depressurize the entire spacecraft to get into space. SpaceX-designed new spacesuits will be used for the operation. Previously, the Polaris Dawn crew had already practiced in them. But the series of tests conducted from June 24 to 28 at the Johnson Space Center was markedly different from previous tests. They took place in the vacuum chamber where the spacesuits of the Gemini and Apollo programs were once tested.
The tests allowed astronauts to get a practical experience of how spacesuits behave in a vacuum. They also obtained important data on their behavior and thermal regime changes under different operating conditions.
Vacuum chamber tests have become one of the last milestones on the way to the Polaris Dawn flight. Its exact date is not yet known. In early July, it was reported that the mission would not launch until July 31. But that was even before the Falcon 9 second stage accident. Because of the need to investigate it, SpaceX will likely have to reschedule the Polaris Dawn flight for a later date.
According to polarisprogram.com
