A Billionaire Astronaut Is Working with SpaceX To Launch the First Private Spacewalk
A Billionaire Astronaut Is Working With SpaceX to Launch the First Private Spacewalk
Jared Isaacman, the billionaire behind SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission, will also fund the first crewed Starship mission.
"We're going to go farther into space than humans have gone since we last walked on the moon," Isaacman said in a segment for the Today Show, which first broke the news.
Polaris Dawn, the first of the three missions, will launch from Launch Complex 39A at Florida's Kennedy Space Center no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the program's website, and spend roughly five days in orbit. The final two missions are currently unscheduled.
Both Polaris Dawn and the second mission will utilize SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule. The final mission of the Polaris Program would take the astronauts to space aboard SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft. It will mark the first-ever crewed mission for the spacecraft, which is yet to make it to orbit.
The crew will conduct a series of experiments while in orbit and are partnering with a number of research institutions and universities, including Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the United States Air Force Academy and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
Several experiments will focus on the impacts of decompression, space radiation, and microgravity on the human body. The crew will also test SpaceX's laser-based satellite communication system, Starlink, in space for the first time. This, according to the website, will be a critical step in establishing communications between Earth, the moon, and Mars.
