SpaceX has finally confirmed the execution time for the spacewalk mission. On the early morning of August 26th local time (next Monday), SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will be launched from Florida, USA, carrying four passengers on a five-day space voyage. They will complete the first spacewalk mission, in which astronauts will put on SpaceX-designed space suits to leave the spacecraft and travel to a flight orbit about 1400 kilometers away from Earth.

This will be the farthest human space travel from Earth in over 50 years since the Apollo program by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). This mission will pass through the Van Allen radiation belt, a high-energy particle ring trapped in the Earth's magnetic field. At the same time, the mission will mean that human beings are about to complete their first commercial spacewalk.

On August 19 local time, Musk tweeted that this will be an epic feat.

The Polaris Dawn launch mission named "North Star" (Polaris Program), which includes at least three space flight missions, is launched by Jared Isaacman in cooperation with SpaceX. The original launch time for the mission was scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2022, but has been delayed several times until now.

It will test whether the spacecraft can be equipped with Starlink WiFi.

Isaacman has shared their detailed five-day itinerary, and the first three days of the mission are relatively heavy:

The main task on the first day is to find the time when the risk of micro meteor orbit debris is the smallest, so as to determine the launch time for the North Star Dawn spacecraft to the altitude of 1400 kilometers.

The second day will complete some scientific research, with more than 40 experiments, and at the same time ensure that the spacecraft and space suits have no malfunctions to prepare for spacewalks.

The third day will carry out extravehicular activities, and the spacewalk for this mission is expected to last two hours.

Other passengers include Isaacman's longtime partner and retired Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, and two SpaceX employees Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. The former is a medical officer, and the latter is a mission expert responsible for supervising the astronaut training program.

In addition to spacewalks, the main goals of this mission also include:

Testing the laser communication link between the Dragon spacecraft and the Starlink satellite. This mission will be the first manned operational test of the Dragon spacecraft carrying satellite communication. If successful, it means that star chain WiFi can be equipped for spacecraft in the future.

Carrying out scientific research, including using ultrasonic monitoring to detect and quantify venous gas embolisms (VGE), collecting data to study the effects of space radiation on human health, providing biosamples for multi-omic analysis of long-term biobanks, and studying spatial flight-related neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS).

It is reported that the astronauts who execute the "Polaris Dawn" mission will wear SpaceX's latest designed space suit (see the figure below), which has evolved from the IVA space suit (in-cabin activities space suit, emergency use). The new coating material of the 3D-printed helmet can deal with strong sunlight; the helmet is also equipped with a forward-looking display and camera, which can provide real-time pressure, temperature, and relative humidity information of the space suit; the space suit borrows the new type of thermal management fabric and flame-retardant materials from the intermediate level of Falcon rockets and the body of the Dragon spacecraft.

The astronauts' spacewalk will be broadcast live. Isaacman emphasized that "a large number of cameras" will be installed inside and outside the spacecraft.

It is the first commercial spaceflight for human beings, but not 100% private effort.

Isaacman is the core figure of the North Star program, who provided the funding and effort. He is the commander of this mission and the executor of the spacewalk mission. Among the four passengers, only he and Sarah Gillis will leave the spacecraft for the spacewalk, while the remaining two will stay in the spacecraft to support.

Putting aside his identity as a billionaire and a technological entrepreneur, Isaacman can be said to be passionate about space travel. He participated in the historic all-civilian orbit space flight mission "Inspiration4" in September 2021 and served as the commander. In 2024, Isaacman plans to perform a manned polar orbit Earth circumnavigation flight mission called "Fram2", which will be the first polar orbit flight around the Earth and is expected to take place at the end of December. The goal is to observe aurora and STEVE phenomena near the poles.

Isaacman is planning the third mission of the "Polaris" project, which will be the first manned flight mission of SpaceX's "Starship", aiming to send humans and cargo to Mars and beyond.

It is worth noting that Isaacman is not only the founder and CEO of the payment processing company Shift4 Payments, but also the founder and chairman of Draken International.

Draken International operates the world's largest commercial retired military aircraft fleet, providing airborne support services and air combat solutions for the US armed forces, including adversary training, electronic warfare, and customized rotorcraft services. The company's leadership team includes executives with extensive military and business backgrounds, such as CEO Nic Anderson and CFO Sarah Harrison, and its board of directors includes former UK Chief of the Defence Staff General Houghton and former US Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gary L. Thomas.

And the core participant of this mission, SpaceX, is closely linked with NASA.

NASA's support for SpaceX can be traced back to 2006, when SpaceX was awarded the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract worth $1.6 billion, aimed at supporting SpaceX's development of spacecraft and rockets capable of delivering cargo and personnel to the International Space Station, with the government purchasing services. This collaboration marked NASA's support for the commercial space sector, helped SpaceX overcome financial crises, and laid the foundation for its subsequent rapid development.

The program has also collaborated with multiple government-backed agencies and academic organizations, including the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado Boulder, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Space Technology Laboratories, Weill Cornell Medicine, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the US Air Force Academy.

Editor/Somer