Leading space exploration company SpaceX has unveiled ambitious plans for their upcoming Polaris Dawn mission slated to launch later this month. The privately funded five day venture will break new ground by venturing deeper into space than any other crewed mission to date.
Commanding the mission is billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman, an experienced pilot who will lead three other crewmembers on the unprecedented spacewalk planned for day three of the flight. Operating some 700km above Earth, it will surpass the record for the highest any humans have travelled outside a spacecraft.
What's more remarkable is the danger the astronauts will expose themselves to. At that altitude they will be within Earth's radiation belts, where energetic particles pose a serious health risk. Without the protection of a spacecraft cabin around them, the spacewalkers will be more vulnerable than anyone in the history of spaceflight.
To prepare their bodies, in the days before the planned 20 minute excursion the crew will breathe pure oxygen to flush nitrogen from their bloodstream, minimising the bends risk. Still, complications could abruptly end the mission or worse.
SpaceX is pushing boundaries with this mission, striving to make space accessible to more people. But the spacewalk phase demands courage from all involved. If successful, it will yield new insights. But the margin for error is slim, and one mistake could carry grave consequences many hundreds of kilometres from safety. The risks are enormous, but the rewards of advancing human exploration are what drive these pioneering individuals.
