Musk's SpaceX to Conduct Historic Spacewalk, Sending Astronauts Farther Than Any Mission in 50 Years

The first commercial spaceflight mission featuring a spacewalk, 'Polaris Dawn', is scheduled to fly on July 31 and is intended to be a momentous step for Elon Musk's SpaceX. This is the first mission under billionaire Jared Isaacman's 'Polaris Programme'. The ascent into Earth's orbit will be launched by the Falcon 9 rocket from Florida.

"We are targeting no earlier than July 31 for the launch of Polaris Dawn," the space company announced on X. As per The UK Sun, the four-person crew will try to reach an initial orbital altitude of 870 miles with the SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. It will now be higher than all crewed space flights since the Apollo 17 Moon trip in 1972 and higher than the Gemini 11 crewed Earth orbit mission from 1966.

In-space communications, health impact research, high altitude, and the 'first commercial spacewalk' are among the goals they will strive to achieve during their maiden flight. SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, which are required for upcoming long-duration missions like constructing a base on the Moon and a city on Mars, will also be tested during the spacewalk, which will take place at a height of roughly 700 kilometers above Earth. According to the space company, Dragon and the crew of Polaris Dawn will remain in orbit for a maximum of five days.

To investigate the impact of spaceflight and space radiation on human health, the crew is scheduled to carry out 38 science experiments. After completing these, the altitude will be lowered to 430 miles for the remaining five days in orbit. Subsequently, the crew will conduct a spaceborne test of Starlink laser-based communications, which will yield important information for the next space communications systems required for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

The astronauts will spend the last few minutes of their orbital stay undertaking scientific studies aimed at improving human health on Earth. The SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew includes Mission Commander, Jared Isaacman, Mission Specialist and Medical Officer, Anna Menon, Mission Specialist, Sarah Gillis, and Mission Pilot, Scott Poteet.

As per Space.Com, the Polaris Program will launch Polaris Dawn as the first of three missions under Isaacman's funding and direction. The flight was initially set to launch in 2022 but due to numerous delays, it got pushed to April 2024. "The additional time continues to provide necessary developmental time to ensure both the completion of these mission goals and a safe launch and return of Dragon and the crew," the Polaris Program announced via X at the time.

Poteet, in a 'Spaces' discussion on X on May 4, stated, "We've kind of piled on to what NASA has done over generations as far as identifying environments and situations that are stressful," he said. Musk, the CEO and founder of SpaceX, whose space company will supply Polaris Dawn with the Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket, has yet to make any public comments on social media about the upcoming mission.