spacex special delivery: billionaire to conduct world's first commercial space walk
2024-09-11
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gillies, poteet, isaacman and menon will conduct the first commercial spacewalk by humans.
schematic diagram of astronauts' extravehicular activities.
spacewalking suit.
schematic diagram of the "north star dawn" mission.
at 17:23 beijing time on september 10, the falcon 9 rocket carrying the dragon spacecraft of the u.s. space exploration technologies corporation (spacex) was launched from the kennedy space center in florida, carrying four americans on a five-day "polaris dawn" mission: a crew of four private astronauts boarded the spacecraft to enter the earth's radiation belt and planned to conduct the first commercial spacewalk, refreshing the highest altitude reached by humans in recent decades.
spacex said in a statement that the dragon spacecraft will begin a two-day pre-breathing process to prepare for the upcoming space walk on thursday, september 12.
billionaires' boat tickets cost hundreds of millions of dollars
the "polaris dawn" mission was originally announced to the public in 2022 and was initiated by american technology billionaire isaacman to advance spacex's goal of colonizing other planets.
the four astronauts participating in this flight are all "amateurs", but they are all closely related to the aerospace field.
isaacman is the central figure in the polaris program and the commander of this mission. he is contributing money and effort, sharing the costs with spacex, which will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. he made his first fortune as a teenager when he founded shift4payments. isaacman is also the third billionaire to fly into space after richard branson of virgin galactic and jeff bezos of blue origin.
aside from being a billionaire and a tech entrepreneur, isaacman is an avid space traveler. he participated in the first all-civilian orbital space flight mission in history, inspiration 4, and served as the commander in september 2021. in 2024, isaacman plans to carry out a manned mission around the earth's polar regions called forward 2, which is expected to take place in late december.
another crew member, poteet, was a former air force pilot who also participated in the inspiration 4 mission three years ago. the other two are spacex employees, menon and gillis, who served as medical personnel and mission specialists for this flight respectively.
the crew received more than two years of training before the flight mission was implemented. isaacman said: "no matter how great the risk is, this mission is worth it. we don't know what it means, but only by doing this can we truly change the trajectory of mankind. we must take the first step in this direction."
breaking the record for the longest distance flown into space
the polaris dawn mission departed from the 39a launch pad at the kennedy space center in the united states. after launch, the first and second stages of the rocket separated successfully. the first stage of the rocket landed successfully on an unmanned recovery ship in the atlantic ocean. 12 minutes after launch, the dragon spacecraft separated smoothly from the rocket and continued to fly into space.
as the crew checks the dragon's systems, flight controllers will begin a carefully controlled 45-hour process to increase cabin oxygen levels while slowly reducing air pressure to help remove nitrogen from the crew's blood. the lengthy "pre-breathing" is intended to prevent decompression sickness after the spacewalk on the third day of the flight.
after reaching the predetermined orbit, the thrusters of the dragon spacecraft will ignite and reach an altitude of 1,400 kilometers from the earth, which is the farthest distance humans have flown into space since the apollo astronauts arrived at the moon. if the mission is successful, both menon and gillis will set a record and become the women farthest from the earth. "now is the time to explore," said william gerstenmaier, vice president of spacex.
the main focus of the mission is the spacewalk, but it will also carry out some secondary objectives and break some space flight records.
isaacman shared their detailed five-day itinerary. the first three days are more demanding: the first day's work is mainly to confirm when the risk of micrometeorite orbital debris is the lowest, so as to determine the departure time of polaris dawn to an altitude of 1,400 kilometers; the second day will complete some scientific research, with more than 40 experiments, while ensuring that the aircraft and spacesuits are trouble-free and preparing for the spacewalk; the third day will be an extravehicular activity, which is expected to take two hours. at that time, isaacman and gillis will "spacewalk" on ropes, and poteet and menon will stay in the cabin to provide support. polaris dawn plans to broadcast the spacewalk live throughout the entire process, and multiple cameras will be deployed inside and outside the cabin.
during the five-day mission, the crew will also test the laser communication link between the dragon spacecraft and the starlink satellite, and will collaborate with 31 institutions to conduct 36 biomedical experiments and research.
attempting the most dangerous 'space walk' ever
extravehicular activity is an adventurous activity. since 2000, humans have conducted more than 270 spacewalks, but no non-professional astronauts have ever performed an extravehicular activity. this time, four astronauts will try the most dangerous spacewalk for the first time.
the main source of risk is the lack of a decompression chamber on the dragon spacecraft. normally when astronauts do a spacewalk or extravehicular activity, they put on their spacesuits and enter a sealed room. before they enter open space, air is sucked out of this room, keeping the rest of the space station sealed and filled with air.
on the third day, the dragon spacecraft will be decompressed for about 2 hours, and everyone and the entire interior of the spacecraft will be exposed to space because the astronauts lack a relatively safe decompression chamber.
as isaacman said, never mind the safety of the spacecraft at that time, "it's just like the safety of your car depends on the clothes you wear. the space suit will become our spaceship."
risks also exist in the new space suit. this suit includes a variety of technologies, including a head-up display, a helmet camera, and a new joint structure. the helmet provides real-time information on the suit's pressure, temperature, and relative humidity. although the suit has been extensively tested in a vacuum chamber, new equipment is often riskier than equipment that has been "ravaged" by space.
in addition, the polaris dawn mission will need to deal with radiation and possible micrometeorites, which are also risks.
compiled by reporter he boqi
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us astronauts' 8-day space trip turns into 8-month trip
coincidentally, just as spacex was gearing up for its first commercial spacewalk, boeing, the veteran american aviation giant, was facing new criticism.
on september 7th local time, boeing's starliner spacecraft landed on earth, marking the end of the spacecraft's first manned test flight mission.
for safety reasons, the two astronauts, barry wilmore and sunny williams, who were sent into space by the spacecraft, did not return together. they are expected to return to earth on the dragon spacecraft in february next year. as a result, they will stay in the international space station for about 8 months instead of the original 8-day "business trip" in space.
the u.s. space shuttle was retired in 2011. in 2014, boeing and spacex received contracts from nasa for manned spacecraft projects to build the starliner manned spacecraft and the manned version of the dragon spacecraft, respectively, to transport american astronauts to the international space station.
nasa's goal is to have boeing and spacex take turns transporting astronauts to and from the international space station on a yearly basis before the station is deorbited and recovered in 2030.
in 2020, spacex's dragon spacecraft completed its first manned test flight and has carried out nine regular commercial manned space missions to date, transporting dozens of astronauts. however, boeing's starliner spacecraft project has repeatedly encountered setbacks and is seven years behind schedule.
compiled by reporter he boqi
