Polaris Dawn Hears Up for its First Private Spacewalk: Here’s How to Watch

After completing its first day in orbit, the Polaris Dawn mission is set to conduct the first-ever private spacewalk. Two astronauts are scheduled to exit the Dragon spacecraft Resilience at 2:23 am EDT. Here’s how to watch.

Launched at 5:23 am EDT on September 10, 2024, from Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, the Polaris Dawn mission has already made history. The spacecraft entered a highly elliptical orbit, reaching an altitude of 1,400 km (870 miles) – the farthest humans have traveled from Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Additionally, the spacecraft briefly passed through the radioactive Van Allen Belt before performing a thruster burn to establish a 190 x 700 km (118 x 435 mile) orbit. Since then, the crew has been preparing for the spacewalk by gradually reducing cabin pressure from sea level to 0.6 ATM with a high oxygen concentration. This process aligns with the operational pressure of the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) suits and helps prevent the risk of decompression sickness (the bends) from nitrogen in the bloodstream.

Before the spacewalk, the four-person crew will suit up, and the cabin will be depressurized. Once the forward hatch is opened, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis will exit the spacecraft while tethered, as the remaining crew members stay inside. The spacewalk is expected to last two hours.

To watch, you can follow the YouTube feed or visit the SpaceX website.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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