First mission objective: "Polaris Dawn" reaches maximum altitude of 1400 km
The crew of the "Polaris Dawn" mission has reached its first destination. The space capsule reached a maximum altitude of 1400 km.
An artist's impression of the field mission on the "Polaris Dawn" mission.
(Image: Polaris Dawn / SpaceX)
The private space flight of US billionaire Jared Isaacman with a Dragon capsule and a Falcon 9 launcher from Elon Musk's space company SpaceX reached its first mission target on Wednesday night. The Dragon capsule reached an altitude of 1400.7 km, as SpaceX announced on X. Not since the Apollo missions to the moon in the 1970s had such a high altitude been reached again with manned spacecraft.
On its way to the maximum altitude for the entire mission, the Dragon space capsule passed through the inner Van Allen belt at an altitude of around 1000 km, one of two permanent radiation belts on Earth. High-energy protons move back and forth between the poles at high speed in the Earth's magnetic field. They expose the four astronauts Jared Isaacman, Kidd Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon to high levels of radiation. They are protected by the new space suits from SpaceX.
Further goals of the mission
The spacesuits will also play an important role in one of the next mission objectives. During an external mission at an altitude of 700 km, they are intended to protect the astronauts disembarking and the occupants of the Dragon capsule. This is because the Dragon capsule does not have an airlock, which means that once the outer hatch is opened, the astronauts inside are also exposed to the vacuum of space. Specially developed spacesuit materials are primarily intended to protect them from the cold of space. In addition, the new spacesuit is designed to allow the astronauts on external missions a high degree of mobility.
In addition, around 36 research studies and experiments from 31 partner institutions are planned. The focus is on researching the effects of space flights on human health. A new, laser-based Starlink communication system is also to be tested. NASA recently successfully tested a similar variant.
The "Polaris Dawn" mission lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday afternoon. There had previously been several delays, including due to bad weather. The launch also had to be postponed initially due to adverse weather conditions, meaning that the Falcon 9 rocket was only able to take off after a delay.
(olb)