The Polaris Dawn mission surpassed the 1,400-kilometer mark from Earth last night, on its second day in orbit, thus becoming the manned spacecraft to fly the furthest in more than 50 years since the end of NASA’s Apollo program in 1972, as highlighted by the company SpaceX this Wednesday (11) on the social network X.
Polaris Dawn, which took off from Florida yesterday aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, reached this altitude just 15 hours after launch, and completed its planned six orbits around the Earth’s surface.
Elon Musk’s company’s spacecraft is commanded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, accompanied by former US Air Force pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, who serve as flight medical specialist and flight medical officer, respectively.
After reaching that altitude, Menon and Gillis became the women who have traveled the furthest from Earth in history, surpassing other NASA operations in space.
According to SpaceX, in the coming hours, the Dragon spacecraft will descend to prepare for the first private spacewalk, which is scheduled for 2:23 a.m. Thursday (US Eastern Time, 3:23 a.m. in Brasília), with Friday as a backup date.
The walk, which will take place 700 kilometers from Earth, is perhaps the biggest objective of this mission and is expected to last two hours.
The operation will be broadcast live with several cameras located inside and outside the capsule, through whose hatch in the dome Isaacman and then Gillis will exit, becoming the first civilians to walk on the outside of a spacecraft.
The mission, which will end on day six with a landing off the coast of Florida, is one of three that Isaacman, founder of online payments company Shift4, bought from SpaceX in 2022 for its Polaris Program, for an undisclosed amount.
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