Extravehicular activity officially began at 10:12 GMT, when oxygen began to flow into the astronauts’ suits. The billionaire Jared Isaacman He is the protagonist of the first private spacewalk in history.
After 15 days of various delays, finally the Polaris Dawn mission was able to take off successfully from the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Tuesday at 5:23 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The first private spacewalk in history
Two days after liftoff, the crew aboard the Polaris Dawn mission prepared for their most important objective: carry out the first spacewalk by non-professional astronauts. This marks a milestone in the history of space exploration and opens a new gateway for tourism in Earth’s orbit.
Preparations for the challenge had begun hours earlier with the process of “preinspiration“which seeks to physically prepare astronauts for their exposure to vacuum during the walk. After this, the crew on board orbited 700 kilometers from Earth and the historic event began.
The first to exit the Crew Dragon capsule was Isaacmanwho was later accompanied by the engineer Sarah Gillis. Upon exiting, both astronauts underwent mobility tests. New extravehicular activity suits (EVA) of the Musk’s companywith the aim of evaluating general control of the body and hands, vertical movement with Skywalker and the support that the lower limbs have.
The operation was broadcast live by several cameras located inside and outside the capsule. Internet users were able to follow it through the official account of the space program on X.
After the walk, the astronauts They will have to return to the shipclose the hatch, normalize the pressurization of the capsule and drive it safely to Earth. The mission is expected to conclude next Saturday, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida.
SpaceX’s mission record
Musk’s company’s ship has on board the billionaire Jared Isaacmanaccompanied by the Former US Air Force pilot Scott Poteetand the SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. The mission took off early Tuesday morning, putting a crew of four civilian astronauts into orbit.
Hours into the journey, the crew made history. On board the Crew Dragon ship, the Polaris Dawn managed to reach the highest orbit around the Earth and surpass a record set during the early days of the POT.
The company confirmed that the spacecraft reached an altitude of 1,400.7 kilometers on Tuesday at approximately 10:19 a.m. Argentine time. The previous record was held by NASA, which, during its mission Gemini 11 reached 1,373 kilometers during its journey around the Earth.
While other NASA Apollo missions throughout history have traveled farther, they did not enter a traditional orbit around Earth, so they do not count toward this record. In addition, SpaceX’s mission is also the furthest a human has traveled since the last Apollo mission in 1972. In total, the astronauts will remain in space for five days.
Source: Ambito
