SpaceX Astronauts Arrive at Launch Site for Journey Into Radiation Belt

A daring mission.

Real Deal

The upcoming Polaris Dawn mission aims to go beyond being astronaut cosplay for the ultra-wealthy.

Instead, the SpaceX-facilitated venture will see four civilian astronauts — who have spent years training together — enter orbit around Earth for around five days inside a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, where they will conduct a host of scientific experiments to provide key insights into the hazards to human health posed by radiation in space.

But the pièce de résistance will be a first in the history of spaceflight: a spacewalk carried out by non-government astronauts, which will use a novel technique to prepare them to disembark the spacecraft.

And now, after being beset with delays, it seems like the mission will finally be kicking off. On Monday, the Polaris Dawn crew arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the mission is currently scheduled to launch on August 26.

The Crew Dragon capsule, containing the astronauts, will be carried to orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket — and if all goes according to plan, they'll return five days later on August 31.

Radiation Vibe

Commanding the mission is billionaire entrepreneur and jet pilot Jared Isaacman, who will be joined by former Air Force pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet, and two SpaceX engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.

The crew members will travel to about 870 miles above the Earth's surface — more than three times higher than the International Space Station — plunging them deep into a region of high energy radiation called the Van Allen radiation belts that encircle our planet. Caused by charged particles trapped by the Earth's magnetosphere, quickly navigating this hazardous region will be crucial if humans ever want to travel to Mars and beyond.

And so, to understand the radiation's effects — and of other cosmic rays that will be encountered deeper in space — data on the crew's health will be collected throughout the mission, and multiple scientific experiments will be conducted.

"It is a different radiation environment, it is a different micrometeorite orbital debris environment," Isaacman told NPR. "And we stand to learn quite a bit from that, in terms of human health science and research."

Following Suit

The highly-anticipated spacewalk, meanwhile, will be conducted on day three of the mission by two of the crew members, Isaacman and Gillis.

But all four will be exposed to the vacuum of space. That's because the Crew Dragon has no airlock, so the entire cabin will be gradually depressurized over two days as the astronauts stay inside their extravehicular activity suits, newly designed by SpaceX.

Along with being a novel achievement for a private space mission, the spacewalk will also be a proving ground for the spacesuits, which are a radical redesign from NASA's bulky suits that have largely stayed the same for decades.

As it stands, the mission is currently slated to launch no earlier than next Monday — so delays or not, we'll be watching.

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