SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission will undergo another launch attempt on Tuesday, with four astronauts taking part. It is to include the first-ever private spacewalk. Previous attempts have been postponed several times.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule is ready to launch from Kennedy Space Center NASA in Florida on Tuesday at 3:38 a.m. Eastern Time – in Poland it will then be 9:38 a.m.
Another attempt at take-off
According to the United States Space Force, the chances of favorable weather for the Polaris Dawn launch are 40 percent. The next launch opportunities will occur at 11:23 and 13:09 our time.
Last month’s launch attempt was postponed hours before liftoff due to a small helium leak in ground equipment on SpaceX’s launch pad. The company repaired the leak, but the Falcon 9 rocket was subsequently grounded by U.S. regulators due to booster recovery failure during another missionwhich further delayed the launch of Polaris Dawn.
Historic mission
The mission will involve four astronauts: billionaire entrepreneur Jared Issacman, retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott “Kidd” Poteet, engineer Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon – a medical officer.
The mission is scheduled to last five days. During the flight, the crew will conduct 36 experiments and scientific research. Among them, they will take pictures of the astronauts' brains using magnetic resonance imaging and attempt to take X-rays without a camera, using natural radiation streams that spread in space.
Astronauts also plan to test sending messages using laser pulses, rather than radio signals, between the Crew Dragon capsule and SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation.
The Polaris Dawn mission is also set to set a new altitude record for a crewed capsule in Earth orbit, reaching an altitude of 1,400 kilometers (870 miles). That's more than twice as high as the mission that carried the Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit. The previous highest Earth-orbiting mission was conducted by NASA astronauts Richard Gordon and Charles Conrad on Gemini 11 in 1966, reaching an altitude of 1,369 kilometers (840 miles).
One of the key elements of the mission is scheduled for its third day. That’s when Jared Issacman and Sarah Gillis will perform the first commercial spacewalk in history, at an altitude of about 700 km above Earth. The event will also be a test of SpaceX’s EVA suits made of new thermally insulating materials. Astronauts will also wear 3D-printed helmets that include an additional visor, a heads-up display (HUD) and cameras that provide information on the suit’s pressure, temperature and relative humidity.
Reuters, SpaceX, tvnmeteo.pl
Main image source: spacex/polaris dawn