A little while ago, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft concluded its Polaris Dawn mission splashing down without problems. Onboard were Jared Isaacman, Sarah Gillis, Anna Menon, and Scott Poteet, who finished this completely private space mission in the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly after the splashdown, the SpaceX ship went to retrieve the Crew Dragon and its crew to transport them to the coast.
Launched on September 10, the Polaris Dawn mission made history by sending four people into orbit who are not professional astronauts and were subjected to a decompression situation. That’s another reason why the medical data collected during this mission will be useful, even if five days is too short to have important physiological changes like those that occur during missions lasting months.
As in the previous private mission, Inspiration4, which ended almost exactly three years ago, one goal was to raise funds for St. Jude Hospital. It wasn’t as central as it was during the Inspiration4 mission, but Jared Isaacman remains committed to supporting this hospital. For this reason, a sort of concert was performed during the mission in which Sarah Gillis played Rey’s theme from the latest Star Wars trilogy on the violin in space together with an orchestra on Earth.
The Polaris Dawn mission will be remembered above all for the first spacewalk conducted on a private space mission, conducted on Thursday, September 12, by Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis. This event caused controversy because actually, the two astronauts didn’t completely exit the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft but remained in the skywalker, as the system that replaced the normal hatch to allow astronauts to exit at least partially was called.
Of course, compared to what many astronauts and cosmonauts have done, tied to a spacecraft or a space station only by an tether, last Thursday’s event may seem like a small thing. However, it must be said that the crew of the Polaris Dawn mission was testing new space suits designed specifically for spacewalks. None of the astronauts had experience with this type of activity, so it was still a dangerous moment and it was necessary to avoid unnecessary risks.
Since the Crew Dragon Resilience isn’t equipped with an airtight hatch, the entire crew wore those space suits and was subjected to decompression. The medical data connected to this event will also be able to help evaluate the physiological changes that can occur in space.
Another private mission was completed. Jared Isaacman intends to continue the Polaris Dawn program with two more space missions. It’s always difficult to say how important these private missions can be, also in terms of space tourism, but they’re certainly opening a new frontier.
