The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission sets the stage for the first commercial spacewalk
When SpaceX launches the Polaris Dawn mission this month, it will soar higher than any crew since Apollo — but there's more to the story.
How do you solve space motion sickness – so astronauts aren't « nausea and throwing up » the entire mission?
how about you Test the new space suit Want to make sure it works not only in weightlessness, but also in the vacuum of space?
Finally, what would it be like to launch into space?
Those are some of the questions the crew of the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission will focus on as they prepare for their history-making civilian mission — scheduled to fly aboard a SpaceX Dragon aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral early Tuesday.
Florida Today interviewed two crew members of Polaris Dawn: Sarah Gillis, who is an astronaut trainer at SpaceX, and Anna Menon, who works in mission control at SpaceX and oversees crew operations.
They join billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman (who commanded the first all-civilian mission to orbit, Inspiration4) and former Air Force Lt. Col. Scott « Kid » Poteet, who will serve as the Polaris Dawn pilot.
Before the pre-launch quarantine, Gillis and Menon, in a wide-ranging interview, talked about the new SpaceX spacesuits that the four crew members will wear during Isaacman's spacewalk, how they'll feel on launch day, and what treats they'll bring to orbit.
How SpaceX Tested New Spacesuits
When is the next Florida release? Is there a launch today? Schedule of upcoming NASA rocket launches from SpaceX, Florida
Q: This is the first of its kind, as previous SpaceX suits were never designed for use outside the spacecraft. What kind of training do you have for new spacesuits?
Gillis: What's really cool about this mission is that we're creating a new training component because we've never had to train for a spacewalk before. So, we obviously started with our standard training program – which every NASA crew member goes through Lives and flies in the dragon.
We looked at what skills we need to practice to actually accomplish a spacewalk. It's all about body movements inside the suit and understanding the environment you're in and how you move, act and perform.
There's also the mental component of taking on this challenge as a team and how you work as a team – and making sure you're really prepared. And we have visited all its pages.
The SpaceX team – they're working on a brand new spacesuit to support this, and instead of going the traditional route of taking the suit and putting it in water, it's an analog that NASA used for training for a while. Spacewalks – We don't have the luxury of having two suits, one that can go on water and one that can be used and dry air.
We were actively making clothes. So instead, they came up with this amazing and innovative solution to take our suit, put it in a suspension harness, and then mount specific physics models. By doing so, you can create a microgravity simulator – where you can fully compress the suit.
We've run through, you know, every situation that ground sim (simulation) supervisors can challenge us with – abort conditions, decision criteria – so we feel like we're really ready to step into this.
Q: When the Dragon Hatch opens, you are all exposed to the void of space. What testing has SpaceX done to make sure the suits work in that environment?
Menon: We absolutely know that clothes can put a strain there. They've done very extensive tests on the ground at SpaceX – it's really incredible in terms of hardware.
We then take those suits and test them in a vacuum chamber in Houston as a final acceptance test. During this time we spent a lot of time pressing cases.
What is SpaceX's goal for new spacesuits?
Q: How do you see SpaceX spacesuits being a game changer in the space industry?Menon: You know, I think it's a step toward some of SpaceX's long-term ambitions but the long-term ambition of human spaceflight. SpaceX envisions a world with multiple planets where human life is possible — and we'll one day put people on the surface of Mars.
Human spaceflight efforts have begun to put people back on the surface of the Moon. There are a lot of big goals out there, and those efforts require a lot of space suits. If you're going to go to the moon or go to Mars, you're going to want to get out of your spacecraft and set foot on that other surface. So you need a spacesuit to do that.
I think having additional skills – additional learning – we can all share that learning and learn from each other. This can only bode well for the future of human spaceflight.
What else does the Polaris Dawn mission focus on?
Q: What experiments or objectives will you participate in during the mission?
Menon: As part of this mission we are doing about 40 scientific and research experiments. So basically, we have some key mission objectives.
It was the first high-altitude flight, the first commercial spacewalk, and the test of the Starlink laser communications system for the Dragon manned spacecraft.
But basically every moment between those core mission objectives, we'll be doing science and research while we're there. We make it important to us that every minute is used to contribute to the long-term human spaceflight efforts and the advancement of human life.
So the science we deal with spans many different fields, but a lot of it actually helps solve the problems we need to solve to make life multiplanetary.
To give a few examples, a few experiments deal with space motion sickness, which affects 60% of astronauts when they first hit microgravity. It often makes them nauseous, irritable, and often incapacitated for the first three days as they adjust to this new environment.
If you imagine a world that sends 100 people into space at the same time, 60 people will float around vomiting. It's not going to make for a very clean or productive spacecraft. So really, solving this, better understanding who gets it and how to mitigate it is going to be very important to our future spaceflight efforts.
Another type of scientific research we're doing is looking at vision problems that affect astronauts when they stay in microgravity for long periods of time. There is a syndrome called Spaceflight Associated Neuro Ocular Syndrome.
There has already been some excellent research on this by NASA and others on the International Space Station. But there is still much to learn. Much remains to be done to fully understand the mechanisms that cause it.
What is the Polaris Dawn mission timeline?
Q: How long is the assignment going to be?
Gillis: Our work schedule for our flight is five days. We have about 120 hours of consumables. There is a lot of margin after that, but realistically, our expected timeline is around 120 hours. If the weather turns bad and we need to get home early, of course we can. But as Anna mentioned, we have a full schedule, so hopefully we can see the full time in orbit.
Polaris Dawn Release Date
Q: What are you looking forward to on launch day? How is launch day going to play out?
Gillis: We will spend seven or 10 days in Cape before the launch. We have a week of training, which is like an update on the Pad settings and what we can expect on launch day.
We will also see the steady fire of our rocket and watch it roll out of the pad.
So (there are) some cool pre-launch milestones we'll go through.
By the time we're actually on launch day, we've simulated the launch sequence several times and there are no surprises, and it's kind of smooth and we have good weather.
I am very curious to see what my emotions are at that moment. I think it will be great to finally ride this incredible rocket and spacecraft that the SpaceX team has spent so much time building and testing for so long.
I will certainly think of all the engineers who worked on the design, testing and validation of our system. So excited to be there.
Menon: We've heard that they go into the spaceship and it feels like they're in a simulator – because they've rehearsed it so many times.
Gillis: That's what's so cool about training — it really prepares you both nominally and off nominally, and what you need to do in each situation.
A Feast for the Dragon: What Do You Eat in Space?
Q: Fun question — do you plan to bring any treats?
Menon: Well, the SpaceX team has solved food in a very creative way. They pack us a day or more worth of fresh food. They pack it in a cooler, and the way they keep it cold and fresh is by freezing the cold brew coffee. So, the coffee ice cubes melt and we drink the coffee and it prepares the food wonderfully for us. So pizza in space, sandwiches in space, vegetables in space, things like that are very, very appreciated.
And then we get camping-type foods like that, which we love and are great at — like Clif Bars.
Q: Is there anything about the Polaris Dawn mission you'd like to add?
Menon: I think the Polaris program and Polaris Dawn initiatives are the building blocks for the future of human space exploration and our collective future. But it's actually trying to make a difference here and now.
We don't want to ignore the problems we face on Earth. So, one of the ways we do this is to continue to raise funds and awareness for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Our commander, Jared Isaacman, flew a mission before ours – Inspiration 4 – and for that mission they raised over $250 million for St. Jude.
Brooke Edwards is a space reporter for Florida Today. Contact her [email protected] or in X: @brookofstars.
