Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launch-risky-polaris-dawn-mission-first-commercial-spacewalk-radiation-2024-8">SpaceX launched the Polaris Dawn mission</a> Tuesday morning, sending four people on an ambitious flight.</li><li>The private mission aims to fly through radiation belts and conduct the first commercial spacewalk.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-polaris-dawn-mission-launch-2024-8">SpaceX just launched four people</a> on its most daring human spaceflight yet, a mission called Polaris Dawn.The crew features a billionaire, a pilot, and two SpaceX employees. After an early morning launch on Tuesday, they're floating in the company's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-next-spacex-flight-will-have-better-toilets-2021-9">Crew Dragon spaceship</a> in Earth's orbit.None of them are NASA-grade <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronaut-warns-tourists-that-spaceflight-is-uncomfortable-risky-2021-8">professional astronauts</a>, but they're scheduled to fly further from Earth than anyone has traveled in over 50 years, since the Apollo missions.They're also planning to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/polaris-dawn-spacewalk-spacex-crew-dragon-2024-9">conduct the first-ever commercial spacewalk</a>, taking the risk of opening their entire Crew Dragon spaceship to the vacuum of space.Here's who's on board this bold, historic mission.<h2 id="688a5c11-20ce-406b-89c2-4f98790acc82">Jared Isaacman, mission commander</h2><div type="image" title="jared isaacman spacex crew dragon" height="2560" width="3840" msid="113245844" hostid="261" sizebytes="991006"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-isaacman-net-worth-career-spacex-polaris-dawn-2024-8">Jared Isaacman</a> is the billionaire bankrolling the mission and serving as its commander. This isn't the 41-year-old's first rodeo.In 2021, he funded and flew on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-civilian-crew-zip-ties-sedatives-orbit-2021-9">first-ever all-civilian spaceflight</a>, called Inspiration4, and brought three people with him to circle Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon.That mission's name, Inspiration4, derives from Shift4, the payment-processing company that Isaacman founded at age 16 in his parents' basement after dropping out of high school. He is still the CEO.Compared to other space-faring billionaires — like the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-richard-branson-spaceflight-2021-7">flashy Richard Branson</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-jeff-bezos-interrupts-william-shatner-space-speech-spray-champagne-2021-10">champagne-spraying Jeff Bezos</a> — Isaacman's tone is much more serious.For starters, he's a relatively private person. He's repeatedly declined to say how much money he's spent on his missions with SpaceX.He also has some technical qualifications for the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-blue-origin-spacex-commercial-space-flights-tourism-cost-2023-7">commercial astronaut</a> gig: He's an accomplished pilot, reporting over 7,000 flight hours. Isaacman's business repertoire also includes Draken International, a private aircraft provider and pilot-training company that he founded in 2012 and sold to Blackdstone in 2019. The sale, along with taking Shift4 public, made him a billionaire.Messaging around both <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-final-members-of-the-all-civilian-inspiration4mission-revealed-2021-4">Inspiration4</a> and Polaris Dawn has been heavily focused on fundraising for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as well as making technological advancements in human spaceflight."I just knew it was a pretty significant moment in history, and it comes with some responsibility," Isaacman told BI ahead of the Inspiration4 launch in 2021. He said the St. Jude fundraising was an effort to "take care of some of the problems that we have here on Earth, so we earn the right to go and explore among the stars."Isaacman has also approached NASA, offering to fund a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spacex-announcement-billionaire-spaceflight-hubble-space-telescope-2022-9">Crew Dragon mission to boost the Hubble Space Telescope's orbit</a> and therefore extend its lifespan, since it's currently expected to fall from orbit in the mid-2030s. NASA has declined the offer for now.Isaacman lives in New Jersey with his wife, Monica Isaacman, and their two daughters, according to the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://nypost.com/2024/09/10/us-news/jared-isaacman-nj-high-school-dropout-turned-tech-billionaire-set-to-conduct-first-private-spacewalk/">New York Post</a>.<h2 id="826614e6-dace-47db-8f31-d7d755ada4e7">Sarah Gillis, mission specialist</h2><div type="image" title="sarah gillis smiling woman in white spacesuit and open helmet with gray and black trim" height="1667" width="2500" msid="113245841" hostid="261" sizebytes="137418"></div>As the engineer overseeing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-spacex-first-civilians-trained-for-spaceflight-photos-2021-9">SpaceX's astronaut training program</a>, Sarah Gillis first got to know Isaacman when she was preparing him and his crewmates for the Inspiration4 flight."You spend a huge amount of your job pretending to be an astronaut and thinking through what they would care about," Gillis, aged 30, said in a briefing on August 19. "I cannot wait to actually test this in space and bring back knowledge to the engineers."Growing up in Boulder, Colorado, Gillis was on track to be a violinist like her mother until her junior year of high school, when she attended a university guest lecture by Joe Tanner, a former NASA astronaut and a mechanical engineering professor. She told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.denverpost.com/2024/07/22/spacex-colorado-astronauts-scott-poteet-sarah-gillis-polaris-dawn/">The Denver Post</a> that she stayed to talk with Tanner, who became her mentor as she pursued aerospace engineering.Gillis started with an internship at SpaceX in 2015 and quickly ascended through the ranks of the company's astronaut training program and mission control operations. She's still a skilled violinist and an avid hiker.Gillis's husband, Lewis, is also a SpaceX engineer. He helped build Dragon's propulsion system."So I know exactly what goes into the testing and the design and the rigor behind absolutely everything in the spacecraft," Gillis said, adding that she was "very, very excited to fly on my favorite Dragon spacecraft."She's serving as the mission specialist on Polaris Dawn, assigned to leave Dragon on Thursday to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-shows-cosmonaut-space-littering-during-spacewalk-nasa-says-harmless-2023-5">conduct the first commercial spacewalk</a> alongside Isaacman. This is her first time in space.<h2 id="3fe1acf4-ea8f-4279-9bc9-30d402b3c54d">Anna Menon, mission specialist and medical officer</h2><div type="image" title="Crewmember Anna Menon of Polaris Dawn smiling and wearing sunglasses" height="1500" width="2004" msid="113245851" hostid="261" sizebytes="165860"></div><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronaut-parenting-tips-career-vs-dad-time-2024-3">Anna Menon</a> has dreamed of going to space since she was a child."I grew up in Houston, another Space City, and I was exposed to space on a field trip and got to experience a day in the life of an astronaut and a flight controller in mission control," Menon said during the August 19 briefing. "And I fell in love with the industry." Polaris Dawn is the 38-year-old's first time in space. She's an engineer at SpaceX and is serving as a mission specialist and medical officer for Polaris Dawn. "I think working at SpaceX gives me a tremendous amount of competence going to space," Menon said. Before joining SpaceX, Menon worked at NASA and helped oversee International Space Station operations as a biomedical flight controller. She's not the only one in her family headed to space. Menon's husband, Anil, is one of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-hiring-resume-selection-manager-2024-3">NASA's new astronauts</a>. The couple have two children, James and Grace.During her trip in space, Anna plans to get in a bit of reading. "I'm going to read a children's book I wrote, '<a target="_blank" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/744559/kisses-from-space-by-anna-menon-and-keri-vasek-illustrated-by-andy-harkness/">Kisses from Space</a>,' to both my kids as well as some of the brave kids at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital," she <a target="_blank" href="https://people.com/billionaire-jared-isaacman-leads-four-civilian-astronauts-historic-polaris-dawn-mission-8709509">told People</a>. The live feed storytime is part of the mission's fundraising for the pediatric hospital, which treats childhood cancers and other diseases.<h2 id="3fce8d66-9204-4222-b02b-13d7f457607b">Scott "Kidd" Poteet, mission pilot</h2><div type="image" title="Polaris Dawn crewmember Scott Poteet against a white background" height="1500" width="2151" msid="113245842" hostid="261" sizebytes="78440"></div>Though he's flown fighter jets for the US Air Force, Scott Poteet has never been to space. The 50-year-old <a target="_blank" href="https://polarisprogram.com/team/scott-poteet/">mission</a> pilot <a target="_blank" href="https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/space/2024/08/16/scott-kidd-poteet-talks-about-polaris-dawn">suffers</a> from motion sickness, but managed to overcome that in his combat missions and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.airforce.com/thunderbirds/overview">performing</a> aerobatic maneuvers with the US Air Force's Thunderbirds.Poteet told <a target="_blank" href="https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/space/2024/08/16/scott-kidd-poteet-talks-about-polaris-dawn">Spectrum News</a> his route to becoming an astronaut wasn't typical, at least not by today's standards. His grades weren't the best in school, and he doesn't have a background in engineering or science. Nevertheless, Isaacman invited Poteet, who goes by "Kidd," to pilot Polaris Dawn."On a personal level, flying fighter jets in the Air Force for 20 years, combat experience, operational test experience, leading many red flag exercises, and fighter weapons school, I can tell you without a doubt this has been some of the most challenging training that I've ever experienced," Poteet said about his training for Polaris Dawn during the briefing on August 19.Poteet lives in Monument, Colorado with his wife and has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C8QPSBUMRo8/?img_index=1">three</a> children. At least one hopes to follow in his footsteps. "My 12-year-old son absolutely plans to go to space," he recently told <a target="_blank" href="https://magazine.unh.edu/issue/winter-2023/to-the-stars/">UNH Magazine</a>. "He believes it will be commonplace in his lifetime."

Meet SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew: The daring 4 who are in space on the most ambitious private space mission in history

<keyword id="19915124" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ISRO" source="keywords">ISRO</keyword> has targeted to <keyword id="19997100" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="launch" source="keywords">launch</keyword> the first mission of the ambitious <keyword id="19945102" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Gaganyaan" source="keywords">Gaganyaan</keyword> project by December, a top official said here on Friday. Currently, some of the rocket hardware for the human <keyword id="41531" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="space" source="Orion">space</keyword> programme has reached the <keyword id="20021373" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Satish-Dhawan-Space-Centre" source="keywords">Satish Dhawan Space Centre</keyword> here and the integration of the crew module was going on at the <keyword id="20054184" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vikram-Sarabhai-Space-Centre" source="keywords">Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre</keyword>, Trivandrum, ISRO Chairman <keyword id="19929547" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="s-somanath" source="keywords">S Somanath</keyword> said. "Today, we are working on the first mission of the Gaganyaan called G1. The first unmanned mission. The status today is the rocket, the S200 stage, the L1, C32 stage are all at Satish Dhawan Space Centre," he said. He said the Crew Module integration was going on at VSSC Trivandrum while Crew Escape hardware was also ready. "So, we have to complete with full wiring and testing should be done. Our target is by November the whole system will reach here, possibly by December launch will happen," he said, responding to a query. Somanath was talking to reporters after successfully launching the third and final developmental flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle that placed the Earth Observation Satellite into orbit earlier in the day. The success of the third and final developmental flight would pave the way for launch of commercial missions using the smallest vehicle by ISRO's commercial arm <keyword id="20038721" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NewSpace-India-Ltd" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NewSpace India Ltd" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NewSpace India Ltd">NewSpace India Ltd</keyword> (NSIL). Today's successful mission of <keyword id="21471593" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SSLV" source="keywords">SSLV</keyword> allows industry to forge a partnership with ISRO for placing satellites into Low Earth Orbit. Besides, it would also allow a company to gain knowledge on rockets, launch vehicles, and satellites in the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle missions. To a query about the requirement for industries to partner with the ISRO for taking up commercial launch of SSLV missions, Somanath said a day-long meeting was recently held with the industry. "I am hoping that the first technology transfer will happen in India between ISRO and industry. The Request for Interest (RFI) was released and as a single (entity) or as consortia, a company can show interest on the technology transfer (from ISRO) and what were the expectations from ISRO and how to qualify for such missions," he said. From the interactions held with the industry it emerged there was a huge amount of interest for them to learn about space, he added. "We told them it will be a huge challenge for anyone to learn rocketry from scratch. It is not just transferring technology, we are transferring the knowledge on how things are done (at ISRO). It is not the drawings alone, it is the knowledge behind those drawings we transfer to industry," according to Somanath, also the Secretary, Department of Space. Through the industry partnerships, ISRO would teach them on how to build a rocket, he said and added that the industry should qualify as per the criteria put forth by ISRO. The company should possess manufacturing capabilities, manufacturing facilities and financial strengths of a company would be assessed, he said. "We will add weightage and marks based on the performance of the company and based on that the companies will be shortlisted and a contract would be given to them after the companies which have to pay a technology transfer fee," he said. Some of the unique features of SSLVs are -- it provides low-cost access to Space, offers low turn-around time and flexibility in accommodating multiple satellites, 'launch on demand' feasibility and SSLV missions demand minimal launch infrastructure.

ISRO targets first Gaganyaan mission launch by December: Chairman

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launch-risky-polaris-dawn-mission-first-commercial-spacewalk-radiation-2024-8">SpaceX just launched the Polaris Dawn mission</a>, a five-day private spaceflight funded by a billionaire.</li><li>The four passengers, who aren't professional astronauts, plan to try the first commercial spacewalk.</li></ul>SpaceX just launched four people on the most ambitious crewed spaceflight <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">since the Apollo era</a>.The Polaris Dawn mission is a fully private spaceflight, commissioned and funded by a billionaire. None of the four crew members are professional astronauts. But it's not just space tourism. It's a key step toward <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">Elon Musk's plans to build a city on Mars</a>.The crew includes two <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/working-for-elon-musk-spacex-workplace-culture-twitter-jim-cantrell-2022-11">SpaceX engineers</a>, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, and a former US Air Force pilot named Scott Poteet. The mission's benefactor and commander is Jared Isaacman, the billionaire founder of Shift4, a secure-payments company. He has previously paid for and flown on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-final-members-of-the-all-civilian-inspiration4mission-revealed-2021-4">the world's first all-civilian spaceflight, Inspiration4</a>, also through SpaceX.<div type="image" title="four people in spacesuits with their visors up smiling and pointing at a black spacex logo on a spaceship behind them" height="1500" width="2270" msid="113224483" hostid="261" sizebytes="176724"></div>Menon, Gillis, Poteet, and Isaacman climbed aboard their <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-discovers-urine-leak-on-crew-dragon-spaceships-2021-10">Crew Dragon spaceship</a> on Tuesday morning, atop a 15-story Falcon 9 rocket at a launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. At 5:23 a.m. ET, the Falcon's engines roared and the rocket climbed toward the pitch-black skies.<h2 id="1e73b2ca-be2e-4016-b9a7-7038261628f6">High radiation and the first commercial spacewalk</h2>Once they settle into orbit, the Polaris Dawn crew has a five-day agenda packed with experiments and a bold spacewalk plan. It's all geared toward paving the way for future human missions to Mars.For example, any <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-invest-mars-pulsed-plasma-rocket-shorten-space-time-travel-2024-7">humans traveling to Mars</a> in the future will be exposed to high doses of space radiation for months. Scientists don't yet fully understand how that would impact the human body."If we get to Mars someday, we'd love to be able to come back and be healthy enough to tell people about it," Isaacman said in a pre-launch briefing on August 19.So the Polaris Dawn crew plans to fly through a belt of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/high-energy-radiation-hotspot-space-puzzles-astronomers-2024-1">intense radiation</a> and monitor their hearts, airways, and eyes along the way. The trip will take them farther from Earth than anyone since the last Apollo astronauts more than 50 years ago.<div type="image" title="close up of an eye with a gold ring around the pupil" height="1667" width="2500" msid="113224490" hostid="261" sizebytes="302118"></div>Future Mars-bound crews might also need to repair their spaceships on the months-long journey to the red planet.That's why the crew is also set to conduct the first commercial spacewalk ever, cracking open their Crew Dragon spaceship and exposing its entire interior to the vacuum of space. They're carrying new SpaceX spacesuits for the operation.Spacewalks — or "extravehicular activities (EVAs)," as they're known in the industry — are always risky. But having a spacesuit that works in the vacuum of space is "critical" for the path to Mars, according to Abhi Tripathi, a former Dragon mission director at SpaceX."So I think this is a very calculated risk. I think of it as a stepping stone more than a risk, where they're not going completely out there and doing something different," Tripathi, who now directs mission operations at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, told Business Insider. "They're adding on capabilities, they're layering on capabilities."<h2 id="349f3f99-c200-47d5-b079-783552bd3717">More missions to come, including Starship's first crew</h2>This is just the first mission of an entire Polaris program designed to layer on capabilities.SpaceX and Isaacman haven't announced details for the second mission yet, but the third mission is slated to be the first crewed <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-flight-four-ocean-splashdown-elon-musk-plans-2024-6">flight of Starship</a>.That's the mega-rocket as tall as the Statue of Liberty that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-super-heavy-launch-destroyed-launchpad-volcano-sized-explosion-2023-11">SpaceX has been developing in Texas</a> and flew to space and back for the first time this year.Starship is the vehicle that's supposed to bring all the stuff and people to Mars for Musk's city."I think SpaceX has been very clear to everyone what their future holds. They want to build a settlement on Mars," Tripathi said. "That's the whole reason the company exists."

SpaceX launches 4 people, including a billionaire, on the most ambitious private human spaceflight yet

Projected to last only days, the first crewed test flight of <keyword id="19915275" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Boeing" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Boeing" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="Boeing">Boeing</keyword>'s <keyword id="20138728" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="starliner" source="keywords">Starliner</keyword> <keyword id="19982902" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="spacecraft" source="keywords">spacecraft</keyword> with two <keyword id="20038917" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="astronauts" source="keywords">astronauts</keyword> onboard is in limbo with no exact return to Earth announced. <keyword id="19935155" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NASA" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NASA" meta.hostid="153" meta.entityid="NASA">NASA</keyword>'s <keyword id="20430894" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Commercial-Crew-Program" source="keywords">Commercial Crew Program</keyword> manager, Steve Stich has said that the US space agency is considering extending the duration of Starliner's mission from 45 days to 90 days, CNN reported. Officials have repeatedly hinted that the Starliner, which faced issues with helium leaks and thruster outages heading to the International <keyword id="20073557" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="space-station" source="keywords">Space Station</keyword> in early June, will be safe to bring astronauts including indian-origin Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Butch Wilmore home. On Friday, Stich said that NASA is considering extending the maximum length of Starliner's mission from 45 days to 90 days and there is no firm return date on the horizon, according to CNN report. Addressing a briefing on Friday, the NASA official said, "We're just looking at the timeline to execute (the test in New Mexico) and then review the data." He further said, "And that's what's really the long pole, I would say, determining a landing date." Stich added, "We're not in a rush to come home." Part of that desired extension is due to the ground tests that Boeing and NASA plan to conduct in New Mexico, seeking to better understand why some of the Starliner's thrusters unexpectedly failed during the first leg of its journey. Stich and Mark Nappi, vice president and program manager of the Commercial Crew Program for Boeing, also said that engineers are still not certain about the reason behind the Starliner's problems. Nappi said that part of the aim is conducting the ground tests while the vehicle is still in space is to try to whittle down possible reasons why the thrusters malfunctioned. Mark Nappi said, "So, if (the test in New Mexico) comes back and gives us all the answers, then we can just undock and come home." He added, "If it comes back and says, 'Here's 80 per cent of the answer. And if you just run one more docked hot fire (test on the Starliner in orbit), then you can get 100 per cent of the answers' -- then we want (Starliner) to be there so that we can get that information." Meanwhile, Williams and Wilmore have integrated with the rest of the crew currently aboard the International Space Station and are conducting routine tasks. Several more helium leaks were identified while the craft was heading to the International Space Station, along with the thruster issues. The Starliner's service module, a cylindrical attachment at the bottom of the spacecraft that provides much of the vehicle's power during flight, faced several issues, CNN reported. As per the design, the service module will not survive the return to Earth. The module is jettisoned and destroyed as the Starliner spacecraft reenters the atmosphere and that's the reason why Boeing and NASA teams then opted to leave the Starliner spacecraft safely docked with the space station while they worked to learn as much as possible about those issues. It is not clear yet whether NASA will extend the maximum mission length to 90 days. Stich said officials must clear the battery life of the Starliner for that purpose. Although he noted that the batteries are being recharged at the space station, they should operate the same way after 90 days as they will for the first 45 days. The spaceflight industry frequently experiences cost overruns, delays and unmet deadlines. However, Boeing has faced challenges that have stood out, particularly when the Starliner program is directly compared with SpaceX's Crew Dragon, CNN reported. Crew Dragon, which falls under the same NASA Commercial Crew Program for astronaut transportation, completed its first test flight in 2020 and has been carrying out routine missions ever since. SpaceX did not have the benefit of designing the Crew Dragon spacecraft off the back of its Cargo Dragon vehicle, which for years sent supplies to the International Space Station before its successor started operating while Boeing designed Starliner from scratch. Nappi said, "We've got a really good test flight that's been accomplished so far, and it's being viewed rather negatively." In the latest update regarding the ongoing space mission, the Expedition 71 crew members on Friday packed a US cargo craft, cleaned up the International Space Station, studied techniques of futuristic piloting, and carried out eye exams. NASA's Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts spent the day reconfiguring a space botany facility. In its live blog, NASA stated, " Robotics controllers are scheduled to detach the Cygnus space freighter from the Unity module on July 12 and release it into Earth orbit for disposal over the South Pacific Ocean ending a five-and-a-half-month mission at the orbital lab." NASA Flight Engineer Matthew Dominick spent most of the time on Friday on loading trash and discarding gear inside the Cygnus with assistance from fellow NASA astronauts Jeanette Epps and Tracy C Dyson. Canadarm2 robotic arm captured the Cygnus on February 1, with more than 8200 pounds of science experiments and crew supplies. Epps operated standard medical imaging gear found in an optometrist's office on Earth and peered into Dyson's eyes. She examined the cornea, retina, and lens of Dyson to help flight surgeons understand and counteract microgravity's effect on crew vision. Earlier, Dyson collected and stowed excess space station hardware for disposal. During the day, NASA Flight Engineer Mike Barratt routed cables and reprogrammed communications systems inside the Columbus laboratory module. He stowed hardware and components used earlier in the week for advanced orbital plumbing in the Tranquility module's bathroom. Mike Barratt refilled supply kits in Columbus' two Human Research Facility racks with biomedical gear, including sample tubes and needles. On Friday, Starliner's Commander and Pilot, Butch Wilmore and <keyword id="21544825" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sunita-Williams" source="keywords">Sunita Williams</keyword> in Kibo conducted space botany work. They removed the Plant Habitat growth chamber from Kibo's EXPRESS rack, replaced its camera and carbon dioxide sensors, then reinstalled the research device. In the liveblog, NASA said, "NASA and Boeing continue to evaluate Starliner's propulsion system performance before returning to Earth from the orbiting lab. NASA and Boeing leaders participated in a media teleconference today to discuss Starliner and station operations." "NASA is now targeting the end of July for the next spacewalk outside the space station. This change allows teams on the ground to continue to troubleshoot and understand the water leak in the service and cooling umbilical unit that forced an early end to a spacewalk on Monday, June 24," it added. Flight Engineer Nikolai Chub practiced planetary spacecraft and robotic piloting techniques future crew members and conducted two sessions of an investigation exploring ways to create new materials on the lunar surface. Meanwhile, Flight Engineer Alexander Grebenkin worked throughout the day inventorying medical kits and cleaning fans inside the Rassvet module and Station Commander Oleg Kononenko replaced thermal components in Roscosmos' life support hardware.

Boeing Starliner with Sunita Williams onboard could wait months in space before return as NASA mulls extending mission duration

<ul class="summary-list"><li>China's lunar probe returned to Earth with the first-ever samples from the moon's far side. </li><li>The samples could answer crucial questions about how planets form.</li></ul>China just took a huge leap forward in its plans to dominate space.On Tuesday, its Chang'e-6 lunar probe successfully returned to Earth carrying the first-ever samples from the moon's far side. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrFGMaB9kjo">A video showed </a>an official triumphantly planting a Chinese flag near the capsule in Mongolia after it glided back to our planet by parachute.The samples, which include 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock, could answer crucial questions about how planets form, as well as the moon's history.But they are significant for another reason too.They signify China's growing prowess in orbit, as well as its potential to someday leapfrog the US in the race to dominate space.<h2 id="e5565559-09e3-4a5e-aba9-a6a2fdad33fa">The moon's far side</h2>The moon's far side is considered particularly challenging to explore because of its craters and the difficulty of maintaining communications with vehicles landing there.China is the only country to have landed in this tricky terrain and returned with samples. The latest mission, which launched on May 3, is China's second successful landing on the moon's far side, with the first launched in 2019.Overall, it has soft-landed on the moon four times.The US, meanwhile, has had less luck. In <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astobotic-faulty-valve-doomed-peregrine-moon-lander-lunar-mission-leak-2024-1">January</a>, Astrobiotic <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vulcan-peregrine-us-mission-first-land-moon-astrobotic-human-remains-2024-1">launched a lander</a> into space, with the aim of it being the first American spacecraft to soft land on the moon since the Apollo era.But its hopes were quickly dashed after a <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astrobotic-moon-lander-leaking-fuel-after-launch-threatening-mission-2024-1">fuel leak</a> caused a failure in the spacecraft's propellant system.In February, Intuitive Machines, in collaboration with NASA, achieved a first: landing a US commercial spacecraft <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-moon-landings-on-lunar-south-pole-crashed-2023-8">on the moon without crashing</a>.But that had complications. As previously reported by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intuitive-machines-im-1-odysseus-moon-lunar-landing-mission-nasa-2024-2">Business Insider,</a> when the spacecraft touched down on the moon, it stopped communicating with mission control.The recent moon-landing scoreboard is "4 to 0.5" in favor of China, Simone Dell'Agnello, a researcher who collaborated with Chang'e 6, told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/historic-moon-mission-gets-china-one-small-step-ahead-in-space-race-41894d41">The Wall Street Journal. </a>"The first difference is that China has missions landing on the fucking moon."<h2 id="31daf330-3f01-460b-9b3b-5b7588f74167">The space race heats up</h2>China is now rivaling the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-beat-us-race-moon-lunar-lander-peregrine-fuel-leak-2024-1">US and Russia as a leading space power. </a>It has its own manned space station, Tiangong, and in 2022 became the second country after the US to land a robotic vehicle on the surface of Mars.Analysts believe that China's leader, Xi Jinping, sees huge economic and military opportunities in space. China is planning to send a crewed flight to the moon by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-beat-us-race-moon-lunar-lander-peregrine-fuel-leak-2024-1">2030 and build a base at the lunar south pole.</a>The US is gearing up for its own space exploration missions and has rival plans to land a crewed flight on the moon and build a base.The head of NASA, Bill Nelson, has said that the US and China are involved in a new "space race" and that China's research missions are being used for covert military activity.He said that China seems to be accelerating its plans to send a crewed flight to the moon."It is incumbent on us to get there first," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c5115651/nasa-administrator-race-chine-south-pole-moon">told Congress in April.</a>At stake are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4783/1">water supplies scientists believe may be on the moon's far side</a>, which China could claim. These supplies would be vital for establishing a moon base or for further space exploration.Pentagon officials have warned that China is seeking to potentially disable US satellites if a war breaks out between them.China has insisted its space program is for the benefit of humanity.But it's also a race for control of economic resources and military power in the intensifying rivalry between the US and China.

China's historic moon mission is just the start of its plans to dominate space

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SpaceX launched its mission to rescue the two Starliner astronauts — but it didn't go entirely according to plan.</li><li>The company's Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded after a booster landed in the wrong place.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk">SpaceX's</a> workhorse rocket has been grounded for the third time in three months after malfunctioning during a mission to rescue two astronauts stuck in space.The Crew-9 mission <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launches-half-empty-dragon-spaceship-boeing-astronaut-crew-return-2024-9">successfully reached the International Space Station on Sunday</a> as it prepares to bring home the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-nasa-starliner-astronauts-stuck-in-space-2024-6">astronauts left stranded by Boeing's Starliner</a> — but the launch didn't go entirely to plan.In a post on X on Sunday, SpaceX wrote that its Falcon 9 rocket's second-stage booster experienced an "off-nominal deorbit burn" that caused it to land outside the targeted area.SpaceX said it would resume launches once it had got to the bottom of the issue, with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requesting an investigation. The regulator said no public injuries or property damage had occurred due to the landing.It's the third time SpaceX's reusable rocket has been grounded in the last three months.The Falcon 9 was grounded in July after a mishap with the booster caused a batch of Starlink satellites to burn up in orbit. This was the company's first mission failure in more than seven years.The rocket was also briefly grounded by the FAA in August after failing an attempt to land back on Earth. The issues come as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-beef-with-regulators-over-starship-launch-delay-2024-9">SpaceX and Musk clash with the FAA</a> over the regulator's investigations into the company and the pace at which it is green-lighting rocket launches.SpaceX slammed the FAA in September after the fifth launch of its Starship rocket was delayed by two months, with Elon Musk claiming that humanity will "never get to Mars if this continues."Musk also accused the regulator of playing favorites, arguing it should <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/faa-chief-boeing-and-spacex-should-be-treated-the-same-2024-9">punish Boeing over the issues with its Starliner spacecraft</a> rather than fine SpaceX for "trivia."The Crew-9 mission traveled to the ISS half-empty as it <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launches-half-empty-dragon-spaceship-boeing-astronaut-crew-return-2024-9">prepared to bring home the two astronauts left stranded on the space station</a> by Boeing's Starliner.NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were due to return home aboard Starliner several months ago, but glitches with Boeing's spacecraft on its maiden crewed flight <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-stranded-astronauts-return-nasa-boeing-starliner-spacex-crew-dragon-2024-8">led NASA to decide to send it home empty</a>.SpaceX stepped in, and will now bring the two astronauts back to Earth aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft in February at the earliest.SpaceX won its contract to supply the ISS at the same time as Boeing but has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starliner-stuck-space-threatens-boeing-plans-rival-elon-musk-spacex-2024-8">raced ahead of its rival in the space race</a>.Musk has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-too-many-non-technical-managers-starliner-boeing-2024-5">frequently taunted Boeing over the issues with the aerospace giant's space program</a>, saying the company had too many "non-technical managers."SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment, sent outside normal working hours.

Another setback for Elon Musk's SpaceX after mishap with NASA rescue mission 

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-won-election-what-that-means-for-elon-musk-2024-11">Elon Musk and Donald Trump are both enthusiastic </a>about space exploration opportunities amid a desire to slash regulations.</li><li>It's not yet clear how powerful Musk's role in the new Trump administration will be.</li></ul>Now that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/election-results-trump-harris-presidential-election-2024-11">president-elect Donald Trump</a> is set to return to power in the US, Elon Musk's plans for sending humans beyond Earth's orbit may be more likely to come to fruition.Space industry experts told Business Insider that Musk's influence over Trump could help advance <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-could-help-deregulate-tech-amid-a-trump-victory-2024-11">his business interests</a>, including sending the first crewed mission to Mars."I'm hugely optimistic about what's going to happen in space now," Michelle Hanlon, executive director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, told Business Insider.Hanlon's optimism isn't unfounded, especially if Trump's second term focuses on space as much as his first.During his first term, from 2017 to 2021, Trump's administration founded <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-force-guardian-nick-hague-spacex-rocket-iss-2024-2">the Space Force</a>, re-launched the National Space Council, and established NASA's Artemis program. This program is set to return astronauts to the moon and lay the groundwork for the first crewed mission to Mars.But space isn't the only interest Trump and Musk share. They also want to slash government regulations.<h2 id="b873fb1d-647e-4cdf-a3ef-7d9a7adb04e7">Musk's 'Department of Government Efficiency'</h2>Trump has said that he would cut 10 regulations for every new one his administration creates.Musk and his businesses, meanwhile, have <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-faa-overtime-regulations-2024-9">clashed with regulators</a>, including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration."There is a lot of waste and needless regulation in government that needs to go," Musk wrote on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1830829538118381574">X</a> after Trump announced that he planned to put the billionaire at the helm of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-rally-elon-musk-save-department-government-efficiency-2024-10">new "department of government efficiency."</a>It's unclear how much influence Musk would have over regulations if this department came to fruition. Trump's trust in Musk to run such a department, however, is a testament to the pair's burgeoning relationship.The two men teamed up on the campaign trail, with Musk contributing millions to Trump's reelection campaign and appearing with him at a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-pennsylvania-america-pac-donald-trump-harris-2024-11">rally in Pennsylvania</a>.In his election-night victory speech, Trump praised Musk for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-spacex-starship-launch-five-huge-deal-space-travel-2024-10">SpaceX's Starship</a> vehicle, designed to shuttle the first humans to Mars, and for the company's Starlink internet satellites, which are designed to offer fast, cheap internet to remote locations worldwide.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-trump-calls-zelenskyy-erdogan-influence-2024-11">Musk also joined a call</a> between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday — underscoring how influential Musk could be once Trump returns to office, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/11/08/musk-trump-zelensky-ukraine-call?stream=top&amp;utm_source=alert&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=alerts_all">Axios</a> reported.Whether that influence translates to Trump founding a new "department of government efficiency" for Musk, though, is unclear.<div type="image" title="Elon Musk jumps for joy at Trump's recent rally in Butler, Pennsylvania." height="1279" width="2000" msid="115101302" hostid="261" sizebytes="117830"></div>SpaceX and Musk did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Trump's campaign said that Musk's ideas and efficiency will benefit federal bureaucracy but his role in Trump's administration remains under wraps."It's a crazy situation, but you can't just create a new department," Deborah Sivas, the director of the Environmental Law Clinic at Stanford, told BI. She said Congress would have to approve it, which may be more likely since Republicans won the Senate majority.Changing a government agency's powers or rules, Sivas said, requires making new rules or passing a law through Congress. That can take months, and it's not guaranteed to work.So, it's unlikely that Musk would be able to single-handedly eliminate key steps in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-texas-starship-launch-site-development-challenges-2019-6">regulatory processes</a>, like the typical environmental review requirement for building a new rocket launchpad."I think Elon Musk will be more likely in the background, whispering in his ear," Sivas said of the billionaire's relationship with Trump."Is he going to be able to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-autocratic-style-success-politics-harm-2024-9">influence space policy</a>? Yes, no question," Hanlon said, adding that she sees that as a "good thing" because of Musk's experience.In other arenas, like environmental regulation, Sivas isn't so sure."I feel like he should stay in his business lane and stay out of the government lane," Sivas said. "When you put those two together, it's like putting church and state together."<h2 id="879d5f64-5325-4a92-9196-db627a3cb3e9">Smoothing potholes on the road to Mars</h2>Even if Musk can't change regulations, a space-friendly Trump administration could smooth the path to Musk's goal of building a city on Mars.Musk recently <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1832550322293837833">said</a> that he plans to launch Starships to Mars for the first time in just two years. If those flights go well, he said that the first human crews would follow four years from now."That's a pretty ambitious timeline," George Nield, former associate administrator of the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, told BI. To meet it would probably require "different regulatory frameworks or contractual arrangements than we've used in the past," he added.<div type="image" title="Elon Musk with former president Donald Trump" height="2633" width="3949" msid="115101300" hostid="261" sizebytes="148502"></div>"If anybody can do it, it will be Elon Musk," Hanlon said. But the government can help, she said, by making regulators more efficient.To help even further, she added, "It can become a policy of the US government to support commercial flight to Mars."With Trump's interest in Starship, the chances of that look better than ever.Regulations aren't the only obstacle. There are still a lot of technical hurdles to overcome before we can reach Mars, Nield said.The moon, on the other hand, is more achievable, and Trump has had his eye on it. Weeks after Musk endorsed Trump, the president-elect <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-victory-expected-boost-musks-mars-dream-2024-11-08/">told reporters</a> that the moon was the first step toward his ultimate goal to reach Mars.<h2 id="60abc973-d957-4dd0-8d46-da0596ffb8e2">The next moon landing</h2>For the Artemis program's first human moon landing, NASA plans to launch four astronauts toward the moon using its Space Launch System and Orion spaceship.In lunar orbit, the ship would meet up with SpaceX's Starship, which would carry two astronauts to the moon's surface, putting boots in the lunar dust for the first time since 1972.The date for that mission has been repeatedly pushed back, with September 2026 being NASA's current target.There's no indication that Trump is considering this, but if he wants a faster moon landing, he could ditch the NASA hardware and send astronauts aboard Starship alone, Nield said."If we see rapid progress with Starship and encouragement from the administration and Congress, I don't see any reason why that couldn't happen in a small number of years," Nield said.

What Trump's second term means for space and why one expert is 'hugely optimistic'

The US space agency, <keyword id="19935155" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="nasa" source="keywords">NASA</keyword>, has pushed back its manned <keyword id="20134050" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="artemis" source="keywords">Artemis</keyword> mission to the <keyword id="19899207" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="moon" source="keywords">Moon</keyword> to 2025 that will send the first woman and first person of colour on the lunar surface. NASA will now target September 2025 for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon, and September 2026 for Artemis III, which is planned to land the first astronauts near the lunar South Pole. Artemis IV, the first mission to the Gateway lunar space station, remains on track for 2028. The first mission, Artemis II, was supposed to take place later this year. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement that they have learned a lot since Artemis I, and the success of these early missions relies on "our commercial and international partnerships to further our reach and understanding of humanity's place in our solar system". "Artemis represents what we can accomplish as a nation - and as a global coalition. When we set our sights on what is hard, together, we can achieve what is great," he added. The space agency said that ensuring crew safety is the primary driver for the Artemis II schedule changes. "As the first Artemis flight test with crew aboard the Orion spacecraft, the mission will test critical environmental control and life support systems required to support astronauts," said NASA. NASA's investigation into unexpected loss of char layer pieces from the spacecraft's heat shield during Artemis I is expected to conclude this spring. The new timeline for Artemis III, said NASA, aligns with the updated schedule for Artemis II, which ensures the agency can incorporate lessons learned from Artemis II into the next mission, and acknowledges development challenges experienced by NASA's industry partners. "We are letting the hardware talk to us so that crew safety drives our decision-making. We will use the Artemis II flight test, and each flight that follows, to reduce risk for future Moon missions," said Catherine Koerner, associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. NASA said that it has asked both Artemis human landing system providers -- SpaceX and Blue Origin -- to begin applying knowledge gained in developing their systems as part of their existing contracts toward future variations to potentially deliver large cargo on later missions. "Artemis is a long-term exploration campaign to conduct science at the Moon with astronauts and prepare for future human missions to Mars. That means we must get it right as we develop and fly our foundational systems so that we can safely carry out these missions," said Amit Kshatriya, manager of NASA's Moon to Mars Program Office.

NASA delays mission to take humans back to Moon until 2025

Washington DC: <keyword id="19935155" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="NASA" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="NASA" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="NASA">NASA</keyword> astronauts Sunita 'Suni' Williams and Barry 'Butch' Wilmore will put a call to Earth and participate in a press conference aboard the <keyword id="19985509" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="International-Space-Station" source="keywords">International Space Station</keyword> in low Earth orbit, the US space agency said. The space call is scheduled at 2:15 p.m. EDT (local time) on September 13 to the newsroom at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston. The pair had launched aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 5 for its first crewed flight, arriving at the space station on June 6. A decision was made to return Starliner to Earth without its crew and the spacecraft successfully returned on September 6 after more than three months in space. It made a safe landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Both astronauts <keyword id="21544825" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Sunita-Williams" source="keywords">Sunita Williams</keyword> and Butch Wilmore called down to flight controllers to thank teams for their support before the uncrewed Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth. "You guys it's time to bring Calypso home. We have your backs and you have got this. Bring her back to Earth," Sunita Williams said in the radio message referring to the spacecrafts nickname. Both the astronauts will remain on the international space station as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew and return home in February 2025 aboard the <keyword id="19905255" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SpaceX" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="SpaceX" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="SpaceX">SpaceX</keyword> Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members on NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Meanwhile, crew of the Polaris Dawn the Elon Musk-led private charted spaceflight created history when they completed the first commercial spacewalk. Donning newly-designed SpaceX extravehicular activity (EVA) suits, the crew began their approximately two-hour operation at 3:12 a.m. EDT while traveling at 17,500 miles per hour in an elliptical orbit of 190 x 700 km above the EarthThe spacewalk represents an important milestone of the Polaris Program, a developmental program designed to further the advancement of human spaceflight. After opening the hatch, the Polaris Dawn crew became the first four astronauts to be exposed to the vacuum of space at the same time, the company said in a statement. Over approximately twenty minutes, Commander Jared Isaacman and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis egressed the vehicle, completed a series of tests designed to evaluate the suit's mobility, thermal systems and the Dragon mobility aid "Skywalker" before returning to the cabin and closing the hatch. Mission Pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon supported Isaacman and Gillis throughout the entire operation monitoring vital support systems. Once the hatch was closed, Dragon was re-pressurized, cabin oxygen and pressure levels confirmed. Reflecting on his experience, mission commander and billionaire Isaacman, who financed the mission reflected on the experience: "SpaceX, back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world." NASA Administrator Bill Nelson relayed good wishes to SpaceX and the Polaris Dawn crew in a statement on X. "Congratulations @PolarisProgram and @SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history!" Nelson wrote. "Today's success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and @NASA's long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy." The Polaris Dawn mission targeted splashdown off the coast of Florida, however SpaceX has not yet released details about the upcoming landing.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams to address Earth from orbiting international Space Station

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launch-risky-polaris-dawn-mission-first-commercial-spacewalk-radiation-2024-8">SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission</a> is about to attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk.</li><li>Four people plan to don new spacesuits and open their Crew Dragon spaceship to the vacuum of space.</li></ul>A <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-civilian-crew-zip-ties-sedatives-orbit-2021-9">billionaire-backed SpaceX mission</a> is about to attempt a daring, first-of-its-kind feat.On Thursday, four people currently orbiting Earth in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-next-spacex-flight-will-have-better-toilets-2021-9">SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship</a> plan to don a set of brand-new spacesuits, open their spaceship's hatch to completely expose its interior to the vacuum of space, and attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk.Their week-long mission, called Polaris Dawn, is fully private with no NASA involvement — but it's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronaut-warns-tourists-that-spaceflight-is-uncomfortable-risky-2021-8">no billionaire joyride</a>. This spacewalk is a critical test of technical abilities that SpaceX will need to achieve Elon Musk's ultimate goal of building a city on Mars.It's also a risky feat for all four <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/polaris-dawn-crew-spacex-commercial-astronauts-first-private-spacewalk-">Polaris Dawn crew</a> members: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-isaacman-net-worth-career-spacex-polaris-dawn-2024-8">Jared Isaacman</a>, the mission's billionaire benefactor and commander; Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, two SpaceX engineers; and Scott Poteet, a retired Air Force pilot who previously led strategy at Isaacman's company Shift4.<div type="image" title="four people in spacesuits with their visors up smiling and pointing at a black spacex logo on a spaceship behind them" height="1500" width="2270" msid="113279200" hostid="261" sizebytes="176724"></div>Even though only two will <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-shows-cosmonaut-space-littering-during-spacewalk-nasa-says-harmless-2023-5">perform the spacewalk</a>, the entire crew will be drifting in the vacuum of space, wearing new spacesuits that haven't been tested in-orbit yet. The stakes are high. "I know that they take safety very seriously," Leroy Chiao, a retired NASA astronaut who has spent more than 36 hours on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-postpones-astronauts-spacewalk-due-to-possible-space-junk-danger-2021-11">spacewalks</a> and consulted for SpaceX on its Safety Advisory Panel for 12 years, told Business Insider in an email.He added that SpaceX knows any mishap would "seriously impact" <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/virgin-galactic-blue-origin-spacex-commercial-space-flights-tourism-cost-2023-7">commercial human spaceflight</a>, "if not kill it."The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-polaris-dawn-mission-launch-2024-8">Polaris program</a> plans to livestream the spacewalk, most likely on X. Business Insider will post details here once they're available.According to SpaceX, the spacewalk will begin at 2:23 a.m. ET on Thursday. If you're on the West Coast, that's 11:23 p.m. on Wednesday. SpaceX says there is also a backup opportunity on Friday."I'll be watching with great interest," Chiao said.<h2 id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">The Polaris Dawn spacewalk plan</h2>The spacewalk procedure begins 48 hours before opening the Crew Dragon's hatch, with a "pre-breathe."The two-day process should slowly decrease the pressure in the spaceship's cabin and eventually put the crew on 100% oxygen. That helps purge nitrogen from their blood and prevent a dangerous condition called "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/missing-titan-submersible-recompression-chamber-2023-6">the bends</a>."<div type="image" title="two people adjust each other's large black face mask respirators which are secured via thick white straps and green head gear in a concrete room with wires and control panels on the wall" height="1667" width="2500" msid="113279203" hostid="261" sizebytes="274222"></div>This procedure is similar to one that astronauts on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photo-international-space-station-hidden-passing-sun-2023-4">International Space Station</a> use before their spacewalks, although their pre-breathes only last a few hours because they do it in the confines of a small, contained airlock. Crew Dragon has no airlock, so the crew must balance the pressure in the entire cabin with the pressure in the spacesuits and give everyone's body an opportunity to adjust. Hence, a longer, 48-hour pre-breathe.After the pre-breathe, the Polaris crew should don their spacesuits — the first SpaceX has ever designed for spacewalks. Each spacesuit will be connected to the spacecraft through an umbilical cord that will provide what the astronauts need to survive like power and air.When the time finally comes, the crew plans to open their spaceship's hatch. Since there is no airlock, this will expose the entire cabin of the vehicle and its crew to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-long-human-survive-outer-space-without-spacesuit-2017-5">the vacuum of space</a>.<div type="image" title="illustration of an astronaut in a spacex white spacesuit exiting the open nosecone hatch of a white crew dragon spaceship in space high above earth" height="1152" width="2048" msid="113279194" hostid="261" sizebytes="62388"></div>"You are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-risk-blue-origin-rocket-2021-6">taking on a lot of risk</a> at that point," Isaacman said in a briefing on August 19."You're throwing away all the safety of your vehicle," he added.Then, if all goes as planned, Isaacman and Gillis will leave the spacecraft to perform tests on their spacesuits, but they will always maintain contact with one of the many handrails added to the ship's exterior for this mission. The other two — Menon and Poteet — will stay inside providing support.<div type="image" title="circular hatch with handholds" height="1570" width="2094" msid="113279197" hostid="261" sizebytes="61868"></div><h2 id="3337c458-78f2-4489-8333-217fe7be3594">The risks and stakes are high</h2>The Polaris Dawn spacewalk plan — no airlock, vehicle fully open to space — is not totally unprecedented. NASA's Gemini and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">Apollo programs</a> did the same thing.<div type="image" title="astronaut nasa spacewalk" height="2325" width="3500" msid="113279205" hostid="261" sizebytes="376574"></div>Abhi Tripathi, a former Dragon mission director at SpaceX, who now directs mission operations at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, told BI that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-boeing-nasa-commercial-crew-program-launch-astronauts-2020-1">the spaceship was designed</a> "from the beginning" to withstand unplanned depressurization events.Tripathi added that he doesn't see "any special risks" with the spacewalk. In fact, he admitted to feeling a bit of "FOMO and jealousy" seeing his former colleagues, Menon and Gillis, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-launches-to-space-blue-origin-first-human-spaceflight-2021-7">go to space</a>.What's more, SpaceX has spent two and a half years <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-build-superpowered-dragon-spaceship-scrap-nasa-space-station-2024-7">upgrading the Crew Dragon</a>, testing it, and running simulations with the four crew members to prepare for this spacewalk.Chiao also expressed confidence that the company has "thoroughly reviewed" its flight plans.<div type="image" title="two people wearing large clunky face masks for oxygen sitting in a concrete chamber on blue mats" height="1366" width="2048" msid="113279210" hostid="261" sizebytes="346404"></div>But trying anything new in space is risky. And there's a lot that's new in this plan: a 48-hour pre-breathe protocol, the spacesuits, the fact that a Crew Dragon spacewalk has never happened before, and the fact that all the crew members will be new to spacewalking.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-inspiration4-first-space-tourists-return-to-earth-2021-9">Isaacman previously flew to space</a> in 2021 on another Crew Dragon flight he commissioned. Poteet was the mission director for that flight, called Inspiration4. Menon and Gillis have provided ground support for multiple SpaceX missions. None of them have ever been in the actual vacuum of space before, though.<div type="image" title="jared isaacman spacex crew dragon" height="2560" width="3840" msid="113279206" hostid="261" sizebytes="991006"></div>"They will be testing a new suit with people who have never done this before," Chiao said.He added that depressurizing the entire cabin also adds risk for the two people remaining inside. They'll be wearing spacesuits, too, but it will still be a more precarious situation than sitting inside a sealed, pressurized, environmentally controlled spacecraft.As with any space mission or spacewalk, there is also a risk that any of the millions of bits of space debris orbiting Earth could impact the spacecraft and endanger its crew.Tripathi previously worked in flight reliability at SpaceX, a division which is now led by <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-shake-up-in-new-race-to-the-moon-2019-7">Bill Gerstenmaier</a>, who previously spent four decades overseeing various human spaceflight programs at NASA."I feel very comfortable that there's maybe no better team in the world from a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-elon-musk-spacex-drugs-investigation-outcome-2023-12">safety perspective</a> than the folks that are trying to make sure every I is dotted and T's are crossed at SpaceX," Tripathi said.

Polaris Dawn spacewalk: Watch live as SpaceX's commercial astronauts attempt mission's historic EVA

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SpaceX is gearing up for Starship's fifth flight test on Sunday.</li><li>The test follows a successful fourth attempt, with both the booster and upper stage landing in the ocean.</li></ul>SpaceX is preparing for another flight test of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-flight-four-ocean-splashdown-elon-musk-plans-2024-6">Starship</a>, the world's most powerful rocket that Elon Musk hopes will one day take humans to Mars.The spacecraft's fifth flight test is set to take place on Sunday at around 8 a.m. ET. A livestream will begin around 35 minutes before launch and will be available to watch <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1RDGlyognOgJL">on X</a> or on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-5">SpaceX website</a>. It follows a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-flight-four-ocean-splashdown-elon-musk-plans-2024-6">successful fourth</a> flight test in June, which saw both the <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-how-spacex-changed-starship-mega-rocket-explosion-elon-musk-2023-9">Super Heavy booster and the upper stage of the rocket</a> land in the ocean after launch.The booster landed in the Gulf of Mexico after breaking away from the upper stage, while the latter eventually landed in the Indian Ocean after re-entering the atmosphere.The fifth flight test aims to replicate the upper stage's landing as well as achieve the Super Heavy booster's first return and catch at the launch site, according to SpaceX's website, which said the mission aimed to take "another step towards full and rapid reusability."The spacecraft underwent several major upgrades ahead of the flight test on Sunday, including a rework of its heat shield.SpaceX said its technicians spent 12,000 hours replacing Starship's thermal protection system with "newer-generation tiles, a backup ablative layer, and additional protections between the flap structures.""This massive effort, along with updates to the ship's operations and software for reentry and landing burn, will look to improve upon the previous flight and bring Starship to a soft splashdown at the target area in the Indian Ocean," the company said.SpaceX's Crew-8 mission to undock from the International Space Station and return to Earth was also due to begin on Sunday.But the company said unfavorable weather conditions off the coast of Florida — the planned landing site — meant SpaceX and NASA were "standing down.""Teams will continue to monitor weather conditions for the next available opportunity," the company said.

SpaceX is about to attempt Starship's 5th flight test. Here's how to watch it live. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Two astronauts went to the International Space Station on a new Boeing spacecraft on June 5.</li><li>They were supposed to return eight days later, but thruster issues and helium leaks caused delays.</li></ul>The good news for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-starliner-spacecraft-nasa-mission-astronauts-2024-6">Boeing's Starliner</a> capsule is that it finally brought humans to low-earth orbit. The issue is that it hasn't gotten them down yet — and it may be a while before it does.The issues that resulted in astronauts <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-starliner-spaceship-delays-astronauts-return-earth-2024-6">Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams</a> extending their stay at the International Space Station were the culmination of years of shortcomings that have delayed the Starliner, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2024/07/03/nx-s1-5026448/boeing-starliner-astronauts-space-station-return">NPR reported</a> on July 3. The spacecraft is leaking some of the helium that is part of its propulsion system, the outlet reported, and a minority of its thrusters experienced issues.In a telephonic press conference late last month, NASA official Steve Sitch said a thruster is being put through rigorous tests on the ground to try to replicate the issues observed in space. He said the tests could start July 2 and run for "a couple weeks.""I want to make it very clear that Butch and Suni <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-nasa-starliner-astronauts-stuck-in-space-2024-6">are not stranded</a> in space," Sitch said. "They're safe on the space station, their spacecraft is working well, and they're enjoying their time on the space station."The delays underscore how <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-starliner-space-astronauts-flight-door-ntsb-investigation-2024-6">Boeing has been getting lapped</a> by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-work-at-spacex-elon-musk-2024-4">SpaceX</a>, which sent its eighth crewed NASA flight into orbit in March. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>-led competitor has also gained ground in the national-security arena, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/the-once-dominant-rocket-maker-trying-to-catch-up-to-musks-spacex-11ac3535">the Wall Street Journal reported</a> on July 1, ferrying more confidential cargoes like spy satellites to space than United Launch Alliance, Boeing's joint venture with Lockheed Martin.In addition to ground-based tests, NASA has been testing the Starliner's thrusters and systems while it remains <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronaut-spend-355-days-orbit-international-space-station-2022-9">docked at the ISS</a>. Wilmore and Williams aren't alone; they joined Russian and American astronauts who were there on an existing mission, and space-agency officials said there is no shortage of supplies or anything that requires them to rush.Still, the delays underscore <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-disaster-american-businesses-greedy-broken-stock-market-wall-street-2024-2">Boeing's business problems</a>. The company's commercial airliner business has been under regulatory scrutiny since a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alaska-boeing-737-max-9-door-blowout-company-response-earnings-2024-1">door plug blew out</a> on an Alaska Airlines flight in January, and Reuters and other outlets have reported that the US Justice Department is preparing criminal charges related to fatal crashes of its 737 MAX jets.Ron Epstein, a Bank of America analyst, told NPR the company has focused on making money for its investors at the expense of its "core engineering business."In May, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-bashes-boeing-astronaut-flight-spacex-did-years-ago-2024-5">Musk tweeted</a> a similar critique."Too many non-technical managers at Boeing," he wrote.

You Searched For "ambitious human space flight mission" and got 12 results

Meet SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew: The daring 4 who are in space on the most ambitious private space mission in history

Morgan McFall-Johnsen,Jenny M…

ISRO targets first Gaganyaan mission launch by December: Chairman

PTI

SpaceX launches 4 people, including a billionaire, on the most ambitious private human spaceflight yet

Morgan McFall-Johnsen,Mikhail…

Boeing Starliner with Sunita Williams onboard could wait months in space before return as NASA mulls extending mission duration

ANI

China's historic moon mission is just the start of its plans to dominate space

Tom Porter

Another setback for Elon Musk's SpaceX after mishap with NASA rescue mission

Tom Carter

What Trump's second term means for space and why one expert is 'hugely optimistic'

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

NASA delays mission to take humans back to Moon until 2025

IANS

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams to address Earth from orbiting international Space Station

ANI

Polaris Dawn spacewalk: Watch live as SpaceX's commercial astronauts attempt mission's historic EVA

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

SpaceX is about to attempt Starship's 5th flight test. Here's how to watch it live.

Mikhaila Friel

NASA says astronauts from Boeing's Starliner could be in space for a couple more weeks even though their test flight was only supposed to last 8 days

Jack Newsham

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides