Thursday, September 12, 2024

The Miracle of Amateurs In Space

Once again, Elon Musk and SpaceX have hit the high heavens with the latest success of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn. Literally.

On Tuesday, the first fully civilian four-member crew lifted off from Kennedy Space Center to attempt a spacewalk never done by non-professional astronauts before.

Today, tech billionaire Jared Issacson stepped out for the first time, after fifteen minutes, Isaacman was replaced by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis to go through the same motions.

They were traveling around the world at distance of nearly 870 miles above the Earth, well beyond the International Space Station and surpassing the Earth-lapping record set during NASA’s Project Gemini in 1966.

During that time, they relied on their newly developed SpaceX spacewalking suits for oxygen, which was provided via twelve-foot umbilical connection to Crew Dragon.

All four crew members were tethered to the umbilical cords which provided life support and communication access.

Given the Crew Dragon doesn’t have a pressurized airlock, the crew needed to wear the new spacesuits to protect them from the vacuum conditions during the mission.

Still, it was a success, since all four people are people like you and me, who never flew in space or worked with NASA.

 Isaacman is accompanied by Scott Poteet, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, another SpaceX engineer.

What additional marvels will SpaceX and Elon provide next for our wonder and amazement? We can hardly wait!

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