2024-09-12 03:08:34
Florida: Billionaire businessman Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has launched the Polaris Dawn mission. During this, a team of four people has been sent on a bold but risky space mission. This mission named Polaris Dawn departed at 5:23 am US time. SpaceX also livestreamed this event on its X platform (Twitter). Polaris Dawn will be the first mission to travel within the Van Allen radiation belt. Apart from this, the astronauts involved in this mission will also do a spacewalk from a commercial spacecraft for the first time.
The mission was delayed due to bad weather.
The Polaris Dawn mission was scheduled to launch in August but was delayed due to bad weather. However, SpaceX not only needed clear weather to fly the mission but also had to ensure that all four astronauts return to Earth after their five-day journey. According to scientists, the timing of the return of these astronauts is very important, as walking in space will deplete their oxygen supply. The Polaris Dawn mission has oxygen and other life saving materials for only five or six days in space.
Billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman also went
Polaris Dawn is the brainchild of Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of SpaceX and financial technology firm Shift4 Payments, who took his first step into space flight with the Inspiration4 mission in September 2021. Jared Isaacman has also gone on this mission. The purpose of his space journey is to walk in space privately for the first time. Unlike his previous chartered flight, Isaacman has shared the cost with SpaceX this time, which includes developing and testing new spacesuits. Apart from Isaacman, his close friend and former US Air Force pilot Scott “Kid” Poteet, SpaceX engineer Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis are included on this mission.
Polaris Dawn will break Gemini 11’s record
First, the SpaceX capsule aims to take the crew to record altitudes for an orbit around Earth. This mission will break the record set by NASA’s 1966 Gemini 11 mission. Gemini 11 mission reached 853 miles (1,373 kilometers). Polaris Dawn will go about 20 miles (32 kilometers) higher than that record. The Polaris Dawn spaceflight will be the highest flight by any human since NASA’s Apollo program, which was discontinued in 1972. A total of 24 astronauts were taken to space by this mission.