SpaceX, somehow not the worst American space companyhas long had big plans for his missions. Spacewalks To Destruction of the International Space Stationthe company always seems to be interested in unprecedented stunts. Now SpaceX is combining this spacewalk with another: sending tourists into space 870 miles from Earth without an airlock.
The mission, called Polaris Dawn, is scheduled to launch next Monday, August 26. It has several goals: first, to reach the 870-mile mark – the highest altitude for manned spaceflight since the Apollo program; second, to conduct a spacewalk at 435 miles to test SpaceX’s new spacesuits; third, to test communication with Starlink satellites; and finally, to conduct some tests on the health of the passengers.
Particularly interesting is the Dragon capsule used for the flight will not have an airlock between the crew and the vacuum of space to maintain pressure during the spacewalk. Instead, the entire capsule will be slowly depressurized over the course of 45 hours as the passengers prepare to exit their tin can. It’s far from a standard approach and should make for exciting watching as the nearly two-day countdown begins.
The Polaris Dawn mission is led by Jared Isaacmana guy who once developed a payment processor and now owns a private fleet of military aircraft sponsored by Doritos. This is how space travel works in 2024. This is also somehow better as whatever Boeing does.
