Editor’s Note:In April of 2009, I flew around the world with Jared Isaacman and his co-pilot, Doug Demko as they broke the Speed Around the World, Eastbound World Record. I was aboard in my capacity as the NAA Official Observer. Jared and Doug were both twenty-five years old at the time. Jared had dropped out of High School only a handful of years earlier. He remains one of the most remarkable men I’ve ever met. I offer this link and this one, so you can discover more about him. Our trip around the world included individual World Records for thirteen different city pairs. Each time we stopped for fuel, a NASCAR-like pitstop ensued because time spent on the ground counts as part of the total time. You can see below that the total time from takeoff to touch down back in Morristown, NJ was just shy of 62 hours. I wish Jared and the Crew of Polaris Dawn the best on this mission.
The Polaris Dawn Mission
Today – or maybe tomorrow, Elon Musk’s SpaceX will usher in a new era of commercial space exploration when a Falcon 9 rocket ferries four astronauts to space via Dragon capsule under the Polaris Program to test and develop new spaceflight technology.
“This milestone mission will include testing a next-generation spacesuit during the first commercial spacewalk; endeavoring to achieve the highest altitude of any human spaceflight mission since the Apollo program; and testing a new communication system using Starlink,” the Polaris Program wrote in a release.
It added, “The four crewmembers will also use their approximately five days on-orbit to conduct nearly 40 critical health research experiments, all while raising funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.”
Here are the four major milestones the Polaris Dawn’s four-person crew will attempt to achieve next week:
Flying higher than any previous Dragon mission to date and reaching the highest Earth orbit ever flown while moving through portions of the Van Allen radiation belt at an orbital altitude of 190 x 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from Earth’s surface – or more than three times higher than the International Space Station. This will be the highest altitude of any human spaceflight mission in more than a half-century since the Apollo program;
Attempting the first-ever commercial spacewalk. This will take place at an elliptical orbit of 190 x 700 kilometers (435 miles) above Earth in newly developed SpaceX EVA spacesuits. During the spacewalk, the crew will conduct a series of tests that will provide necessary data that will allow SpaceX teams to produce and scale for future long-duration missions. The crew worked with SpaceX engineers throughout suit development, testing various iterations for mobility and performance (along with mobility aids and systems procedures), and conducted operations inside vacuum chambers to validate pre-breathe protocols and the readiness of the EVA suit;
Testing laser-based satellite communication using optical links between the Dragon spacecraft and Starlink satellites, revolutionizing the speed and quality of space communications;
Conducting nearly 40 experiments for critical scientific research designed to advance our knowledge of human health both on Earth and during future long-duration space flights
Separately, NASA is set to announce the planned return of two stranded Boeing Starliner astronauts aboard the ISS on early Saturday afternoon. Reports have already suggested that the space agency has discussed the possibility of ferrying the astronauts on a SpaceX Dragon.
Godspeed, Polaris Dawn.
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