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<keyword id="6360701" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SpaceX" source="Orion">SpaceX</keyword> engineer <keyword id="12690875" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anna-Menon" source="Orion">Anna Menon</keyword> will be among the crew of a unique space mission announced on Monday by US billionaire <keyword id="10689976" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jared-Isaacman" source="Orion">Jared Isaacman</keyword>, who had commanded a human spaceflight mission last year.<br /><br /><keyword id="17256" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="menon" source="Orion">Menon</keyword> is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX, where she manages the development of crew operations and serves in mission control as both a Mission Director and crew communicator, a SpaceX release said.<br /><br />Isaacman, the founder and CEO of American payment processing company Shift4, who had commanded the Inspiration4 mission, announced the Polaris Programme, a first-of-its-kind effort to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities, while continuing to raise funds and awareness for important causes here on Earth.<br /><br />The programme will consist of up to three human spaceflight missions that will demonstrate new technologies, conduct extensive research, and ultimately culminate in the first flight of SpaceX's Starship with humans on board.<br /><br />The first mission is named <keyword id="13176218" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Polaris-Dawn" source="Orion">Polaris Dawn</keyword>, which is targeted to launch no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2022 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<br /><br />The Polaris Dawn mission has many first-time objectives, so the Polaris Programme chose a crew of experts who know each other well and have a foundation of trust they can build upon as they undergo the challenges of this mission. Menon is Mission Specialist and Medical Officer.<br /><br />In addition to Isaacman, the crew includes Menon, a veteran member of Isaacman's team Scott Poteet and SpaceX employee Sarah Gillis.<br /><br />During her tenure at SpaceX, Menon has led the implementation of Dragon's crew capabilities, helped create the crew communicator operator role, and developed critical operational responses to vehicle emergencies, such as a fire or cabin depressurisation.<br /><br />Anna served in mission control during multiple cargo and crew Dragon missions, including Demo-2, Crew-1, CRS-22, and CRS-23. Prior to SpaceX, she worked for seven years at NASA as a biomedical flight controller for the International Space Station.<br /><br />She is the wife of Indian-origin physician Anil Menon, a lieutenant colonel at the US Air Force, who was selected by NASA in December last year along with nine others to be astronauts for future missions.<br /><br />Anil Menon, 45, was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants.<br /><br />He was SpaceX's first flight surgeon, helping to launch the company's first humans to space during NASA's SpaceX Demo-2 mission and building a medical organisation to support the human system during future missions. He previously served NASA as the crew flight surgeon for various expeditions taking astronauts to the International Space Station.<br /><br />SpaceX said the Dragon mission will take advantage of Falcon 9 and Dragon's maximum performance, flying higher than any Dragon mission to date and endeavouring to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown.<br /><br />Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will spend up to five days in orbit, during which the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk, conduct scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflights, and be the first crew to test Starlink laser-based communications in space, providing valuable data for future space communications systems necessary for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, the company said.<br /><br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/okinawa-autotech-opens-second-plant-in-india-to-manufacture-10-lakh-evs-per-year-by-2024/articleshow/89583160.cms">Okinawa Autotech opens second plant in India, to manufacture 10 lakh EVs per year by 2024</a><br /></strong><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/foldable-smartphone-shipments-to-exceed-30-million-in-2024-globally-canalys/articleshow/89583294.cms"><strong>Foldable smartphone shipments to exceed 30 million in 2024 globally: Canalys</strong></a><br />

SpaceX engineer Anna Menon to be among crew of new space mission by Jared Isaacman

<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><p><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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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<strong> </strong>Crew Dragon spaceship to the vacuum of space.</p><p>Here's who's on board this bold, historic mission.</p><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><p><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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>"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."</p><p>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.</p><p>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>.</p><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><p>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.</p><p>"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."</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>Gillis's husband, Lewis, is also a SpaceX engineer. He helped build Dragon's propulsion system.</p><p>"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."</p><p>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.</p><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><p><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.</p><p>"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." </p><p>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. </p><p>"I think working at SpaceX gives me a tremendous amount of competence going to space," Menon said. </p><p>Before joining SpaceX, Menon worked at NASA and helped oversee International Space Station operations as a biomedical flight controller. </p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><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><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p><span>"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," </span>Poteet said about his training for Polaris Dawn during the briefing on August 19.</p><p>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."</p>

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

<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><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><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><p>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.<br /><br />"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.</p><p>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."</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>"I'll be watching with great interest," Chiao said.</p><h2 id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">The Polaris Dawn spacewalk plan</h2><p id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">The spacewalk procedure begins 48 hours before opening the Crew Dragon's hatch, with a "pre-breathe."</p><p id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">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>."</p><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><p id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">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<strong> </strong>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.</p><p id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">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.</p><p id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">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>.</p><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><p id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">"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.</p><p id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">"You're throwing away all the safety of your vehicle," he added.</p><p id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">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.</p><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><p id="3337c458-78f2-4489-8333-217fe7be3594">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.</p><div type="image" title="astronaut nasa spacewalk" height="2325" width="3500" msid="113279205" hostid="261" sizebytes="376574"></div><p>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.</p><p>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>.</p><p>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.</p><p>Chiao also expressed confidence that the company has "thoroughly reviewed" its flight plans.</p><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><p>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.</p><p><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.</p><div type="image" title="jared isaacman spacex crew dragon" height="2560" width="3840" msid="113279206" hostid="261" sizebytes="991006"></div><p>"They will be testing a new suit with people who have never done this before," Chiao said.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>"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.</p>

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

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" 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><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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 the technical abilities that SpaceX will need to achieve Elon Musk's ultimate goal of building a city on Mars.</p><p>It's also a risky feat for all four crew 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.</p><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="113238631" hostid="261" sizebytes="176724"></div><p>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.</p><p>"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.</p><p>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."</p><p>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 on X. According to SpaceX, the livestream will start one hour before the spacewalk begins at 2:23 a.m. ET on Thursday. If you're on the West Coast, that's 11:23 p.m. PT on Wednesday. SpaceX says there is also a backup opportunity on Friday.</p><p>"I'll be watching with great interest," Chiao said.</p><h2 id="554cfe13-43b4-4b33-be3f-3bd739b2c0ca">The Polaris Dawn spacewalk plan</h2><p>The spacewalk procedure begins 48 hours before opening the Crew Dragon's hatch, with a "pre-breathe."</p><p>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>."</p><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="113238637" hostid="261" sizebytes="274222"></div><p>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<strong> </strong>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>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>.</p><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="113238633" hostid="261" sizebytes="62388"></div><p>"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.</p><p>"You're throwing away all the safety of your vehicle," he added.</p><p>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.</p><div type="image" title="circular hatch with handholds" height="1570" width="2094" msid="113238638" hostid="261" sizebytes="61868"></div><h2 id="3337c458-78f2-4489-8333-217fe7be3594">The risks and stakes are high</h2><p>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.</p><div type="image" title="astronaut nasa spacewalk" height="2325" width="3500" msid="113238640" hostid="261" sizebytes="376574"></div><p>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.</p><p>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>.</p><p>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.</p><p>Chiao also expressed confidence that the company has "thoroughly reviewed" its flight plans.</p><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="113238639" hostid="261" sizebytes="346404"></div><p>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 all the crew members will be new to spacewalking.</p><p><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.</p><div type="image" title="jared isaacman spacex crew dragon" height="2560" width="3840" msid="113238636" hostid="261" sizebytes="991006"></div><p>"They will be testing a new suit with people who have never done this before," Chiao said.</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>Tripathi previously worked in flight reliability at SpaceX, a division 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.</p><p>"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.</p>

Polaris Dawn's spacewalk will be historic — and risky. Here's everything to know.

<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><p>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>.</p><p>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>.</p><p>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"><u>SpaceX engineers</u></a>, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, and a former US Air Force pilot named Scott Poteet.</p> <p>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.</p><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><p>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 <span>5:23 a.m. ET</span>, the Falcon's engines roared and the rocket climbed toward the pitch-black skies.</p><h2 id="1e73b2ca-be2e-4016-b9a7-7038261628f6">High radiation and the first commercial spacewalk</h2><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>"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.</p><p>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.</p><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><p>Future Mars-bound crews might also need to repair their spaceships on the months-long journey to the red planet.</p><p>That's why<strong> </strong>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>"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."</p><h2 id="349f3f99-c200-47d5-b079-783552bd3717"><strong>More missions to come, including Starship's first crew</strong></h2><p>This is just the first mission of an entire Polaris program designed to layer on capabilities.</p><p>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>.</p><p>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.</p><p>Starship is the vehicle that's supposed to bring all the stuff and people to Mars for Musk's city.</p><p>"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."</p>

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

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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Meanwhile, crew of the Polaris Dawn the Elon Musk-led private charted spaceflight created history when they completed the first commercial spacewalk.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Once the hatch was closed, Dragon was re-pressurized, cabin oxygen and pressure levels confirmed. <br /><br />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."<br /><br />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.<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />The Polaris Dawn mission targeted splashdown off the coast of Florida, however SpaceX has not yet released details about the upcoming landing. <br /><br />

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

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Anil Menon is a former SpaceX medical director, flight surgeon, and a newly minted NASA astronaut.</li><li>But he said his most important (and challenging) job is being a dad to his two young children.</li></ul><p>Anil Menon is one of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-hiring-resume-selection-manager-2024-3">NASA's newest astronauts</a> and former SpaceX flight surgeon, but none of that compares to, what he said, is his hardest job: being a dad.</p><p>"I would say that parenting is probably the most challenging thing that I do, because it requires so much <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/mental-health/emotional-intelligence">emotional intelligence</a>," he said.</p><p>On top of it all, his wife, Anna Menon, is a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX. She's gearing up to go to space too, as a crew member on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaire-astronaut-buys-spacex-flights-plans-flight-starship-2022-2">Polaris Dawn mission</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Anil and Anna Menon hugging on the beach in their respective NASA and SpaceX astronaut jumpsuits." height="3024" width="4032" msid="108899862" hostid="261" sizebytes="1053880"></div><p>Balancing work and family life <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kim-kardashian-cries-herself-to-sleep-while-raising-her-children-2023-5">isn't easy for anyone</a>. But when both parents work in space flight, unique challenges arise like conflicting schedules and time management.</p><p>Together, Anil and Anna Menon have crafted a specific approach to parenting. Above all, they work to show their children, ages 3 and 6, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/southwest-honorary-flight-attendant-childhood-dream-viral-interview-2023-11">that it's important to follow their dreams</a> — even if those dreams are not the same as their parents'.</p><p>Here's how Anil and Anna manage their demanding careers while raising two young kids.</p><h2>Astronaut-level problem solving</h2><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">Astronauts are constantly juggling</a> a bunch of different problems under high pressure, and solving them in real time. Funnily enough, so are parents.</p><p>As a dad, Anil Menon uses his astronaut problem-solving skills all the time, he said. Especially when <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-astronaut-involutarily-sets-space-record-after-flight-home-failed-2023-9">the demands of his job present logistical challenges.</a></p><p>"When we took on these jobs, that helped tremendously with parenting," he said.</p><div type="image" title="Astronaut Anil Menon kneels inside the entrance to a space craft" height="800" width="504" msid="108899864" hostid="261" sizebytes="37738"></div><p>For example, when he was training to become a NASA astronaut in Houston, his wife was called away to LA for a month to act as mission director for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-live-spacex-launch-astronaut-crew-for-nasa-halloween-2021-10">NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 launch</a>.</p><p>Her flight simulation shifts could happen at different times of the day and last well into the night, while his NASA schedule in Houston could have very early start times.</p><p>But the couple didn't dwell on their challenging circumstances and instead focused on finding a solution together. Ultimately, they decided to have the kids stay in LA with mom for a month and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-hire-nanny-questions-ask-interview-2023-8">hired a nanny</a> to travel with them.</p><p>"We were lucky to have the extra support and the kids had fun," Anil Menon said.</p><p>This is just one example where Anil and Anna have been pulled in one direction or another. During astronaut training, Anil spent two months away from home in Florida learning <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/t-38-talon-us-air-force-trainer-jet-supersonic-sale-2023-4">how to fly a T-6 aircraft for pilot training.</a></p><p>And once Anna Menon was selected to fly on SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than this summer, both she and Anil were busy with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bezos-and-blue-origin-astronauts-are-training-for-tuesdays-space-flight-2021-7">space flight training</a>. Yet, despite the time commitment, their children are still central to their lives.</p><p>"As we've gotten closer to her launch date, and we just finished my training, along the way we've discovered ways of involving the kids in these things — bringing them closer and making that distance seem smaller," Anil Menon said.</p><p>For example, he brought his two kids, James and Grace, to his spacewalk training. And at SpaceX, the kids got to explore inside the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-cargo-dragon-sonic-boom-florida-jacksonville-splashdown-2021-10">Dragon mission capsule</a>. Plus, the couple said they love going to their kids' school to discuss their careers.</p><p>Overcoming logistical challenges like these is why Anil believes that parenting is the best astronaut training there is.</p><p>"I certainly encourage parents to apply to this new astronaut program," he said. "If they can do that, then they can be an astronaut."</p><h2>Inspiring their kids to shoot for the moon</h2><p>Their hope isn't that their kids will follow in their footsteps and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-inspires-new-generation-of-astronauts-alyssa-carson-2020-7">become astronauts themselves</a>. Rather, Anil and Anna Menon hope that by showing James and Grace how passionate they are about their careers, their kids will feel encouraged to chase their own dreams, no matter what they are. </p><div type="image" title="Anna and Anil Menon mose with their kids in front of a mountain range and open sky." height="1475" width="1967" msid="108899866" hostid="261" sizebytes="630312"></div><p>Anil applied to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-how-nasa-trains-its-astronauts-to-go-to-the-moon">NASA's astronaut program</a> several times before getting accepted. Even though he thought "it probably had a 0% chance of happening" he kept applying.</p><p>"They may not be interested in space, and they probably won't be interested," Anil Menon said with a laugh. "But hopefully they see that it's important to follow your passion. That's the model we're trying to demonstrate to them. Because you can tell kids anything, but I think actions speak louder than words."</p><p>Setting that example is what motivates Anil and Anna Menon to keep saying yes to new opportunities, even if it means learning to adapt to new challenges, Anil said.</p>

A NASA astronaut, former SpaceX flight surgeon, and father of 2 says parenting is by far his hardest job

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew has returned to Earth.</li><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">Elon Musk's dreams of building a city on Mars</a> got a major boost from the Polaris Dawn mission.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/polaris-dawn-crew-spacex-commercial-astronauts-first-private-spacewalk-2024-9">SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew</a> successfully returned to Earth on Sunday, bringing Elon Musk one step closer to his dream of settling Mars.</p><p>The five-day mission saw the four commercial astronauts complete a list of historic firsts: They traveled further than anyone has gone in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">more than 50 years, since the last Apollo missions</a>. The two female crew members, in particular, set the record for the farthest any woman has traveled in space.</p><p>They donned new SpaceX spacesuits that had never been tested in orbit, opened their ship to the vacuum of space, and conducted the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/polaris-dawn-spacewalk-watch-live-spacex-crew-dragon-commercial-astronauts-2024-9">first-ever commercial spacewalk</a>.</p><p>On top of that, they exposed themselves to high levels of space radiation, much higher than what astronauts aboard the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photo-international-space-station-hidden-passing-sun-2023-4">International Space Station</a> undergo in the same time period. And they endured a fiery plummet back to Earth.</p><p>It was all in the name of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-invest-mars-pulsed-plasma-rocket-shorten-space-time-travel-2024-7">paving the way to Mars</a>.</p><div type="image" title="Polaris Dawn landing." height="1604" width="2852" msid="113365917" hostid="261" sizebytes="221754"></div><p>If you ask <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jared-isaacman-net-worth-career-spacex-polaris-dawn-2024-8">Jared Isaacman</a>, the billionaire who funded and commanded the mission, it was also in the name of raising funds for childhood-cancer research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.</p><p>As he previously told Business Insider, before his <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-inspiration4-first-space-tourists-return-to-earth-2021-9">first flight with SpaceX</a> in 2021, he wanted 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."</p><div type="image" title="jared isaacman spacex crew dragon" height="2560" width="3840" msid="113365923" hostid="261" sizebytes="991006"></div><p>But the technical aspects of the mission — the spacewalk, the spacesuits, the laser Starlink communication, flying through a radiation belt — were critical tests of technologies SpaceX will need in order to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-havent-we-been-to-mars-yet-2024-5">fly humans to the red planet</a>.</p><p>Isaacman's future plans fit the Mars bill, too. He's planning two more Polaris missions and says the third one will ditch Crew Dragon for <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-flight-four-ocean-splashdown-elon-musk-plans-2024-6">Starship</a>. That's the Statue-of-Liberty-sized mega-rocket SpaceX is developing in South Texas for the express purpose of colonizing Mars.</p><h2 id="1637b34d-1546-42ca-a615-916aa98a2919">Mars trailblazers return home</h2><p>As the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-discovers-urine-leak-on-crew-dragon-spaceships-2021-10">Crew Dragon</a> hurtled back toward Earth, plowing through the atmosphere, superheated plasma roared at the edges of its protective heat shield.</p><p>Isaacman had done this before, but it was the first spaceflight for the three other crew members: a former US Air Force pilot named Scott Poteet and two <a target="_blank" 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.</p><p>They felt a jerk as the spaceship deployed parachutes to drift down into the Gulf of Mexico near Florida's Dry Tortugas. It bobbed in the waves, looking like a toasted marshmallow, until a ship hauled it on board and SpaceX workers helped the crew off.</p><div type="image" title="Screenshot of the crew and spacecraft." height="1800" width="2880" msid="113365930" hostid="261" sizebytes="100324"></div><p>Five days after launch, they had officially completed the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-launch-risky-polaris-dawn-mission-first-commercial-spacewalk-radiation-2024-8">most daring crewed commercial spaceflight yet</a>.</p><h2 id="de02c9b0-79f8-43b9-aa69-40373e49bcd1">Spacewalks and spacesuits for Mars</h2><p>The main event of the mission was its spacewalk.</p><div type="image" title="astronaut in white suit and helmet standing at the open hatch of a spaceship in space holding onto a railing looking out over earth" height="540" width="960" msid="113365926" hostid="261" sizebytes="13622"></div><p>The crew spent 48 hours slowly depressurizing their spacecraft so that they could open the hatch to the vacuum of space, sending Isaacman and Gillis out to gaze over Earth and conduct a few mobility exercises.</p><p>They were testing SpaceX's new extravehicular <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacesuit-design-history-timeline-changes-nasa-2018-3">spacesuits</a>, designed for the purpose of leaving a spacecraft to conduct maintenance or repairs — an ability that future Mars-bound people will need, since the journey takes months.</p><p>"It might be 10 iterations from now and a bunch of evolutions of the suit," but someday someone may even wear a version of these spacesuits "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-made-oxygen-out-of-thin-air-on-mars-2023-9">walking on Mars</a>," Isaacman said in a prelaunch briefing in August.</p><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="113365919" hostid="261" sizebytes="208520"></div><p>"There's going to be an armada of Starships arriving on Mars at some point in the future," he added. "Those people are going to have to be able to get out of it and walk around and do important things."</p><h2 id="175335c0-7c23-487c-a845-a51ae47e64b7">Radiation on the way to Mars</h2><p>Polaris Dawn also tackled another big challenge for crewed Mars missions: extreme radiation exposure. People traveling to Mars would be exposed to immense amounts of space radiation for months.</p><p>So the Crew Dragon spacecraft flew through two donuts of intense radiation surrounding Earth, called the Van Allen belts. The crew conducted tests and measurements to see how it affected their bodies.</p><div type="image" title="spaceship mouth with railings in the foreground with the huge round curvature of Earth dominating the background from a distance beneath the blackness of space" height="713" width="1273" msid="113365933" hostid="261" sizebytes="31010"></div><p>"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 August.</p><p>Other medical experiments on the mission checked their eyes, veins, and airways, to help SpaceX better understand the impacts of long-distance spaceflight.</p><h2 id="2a23b528-e8d9-4a1e-aa8a-c67599b035ad">Communications for Mars</h2><p>Polaris Dawn also tested <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-laser-beam-message-10-million-miles-away-streaming-mars-2023-11">laser-based communications</a> using Starlink, the network of internet satellites that SpaceX has built throughout Earth's orbit.</p><p>The commercial astronauts posted on X mid-mission, saying they'd uploaded their photos there using Starlink internet.</p><p>Those space lasers lay the groundwork for future communications with deep-space missions — that is, as the Polaris website says, "for missions to the moon, Mars and beyond."</p><p>Isaacman seems to be vested in making that happen.</p><p>"I'd certainly like my kids to see humans walking on the moon and Mars and venturing out and exploring our solar system," he said ahead of the launch.</p>

SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew returns to Earth victorious, making huge gains in Elon Musk's plans to send humans to Mars

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SpaceX is about to launch a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronaut-warns-tourists-that-spaceflight-is-uncomfortable-risky-2021-8">risky mission of four private citizens who aren't professional astronauts</a>.</li><li>The billionaire-backed Polaris Dawn mission aims to attempt a first-of-its-kind commercial spacewalk.</li></ul><p><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-super-heavy-launch-destroyed-launchpad-volcano-sized-explosion-2023-11">SpaceX is launching</a> its most daring mission yet as soon as Monday morning.</p><p>Four private citizens — none of them professional astronauts — plan to climb aboard <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-next-spacex-flight-will-have-better-toilets-2021-9">SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship</a> and roar into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket.</p><p>Their mission, called Polaris Dawn, was drawn up and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-civilian-crew-zip-ties-sedatives-orbit-2021-9">funded by the billionaire Jared Isaacman</a>, who is acting as the mission's commander.</p><p>SpaceX is also taking the opportunity to advance <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-plan-colonize-mars-plan-unrealistic-scientists-explain-2023-10">Elon Musk's greatest ambition</a>: sending people to Mars.</p><p>This isn't the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-spaceflight-unlike-any-prior-rocket-launch-2021-6">space-tourist joyride</a> you might imagine. The Polaris Dawn crew plans to conduct experiments and test technologies for Mars, including the first-ever attempt at a new spacewalk method.</p><p>"We're really starting to push frontiers with the private sector and learning new things that we would not be able to learn by staying in the risk-free environment here on Earth," Bill Gerstenmaier, who is SpaceX's vice president of build and flight reliability, said in a briefing on August 19.</p><p>"It's time to go out, it's time to explore, it's time to do these big things and move forward," Gerstenmaier added.</p><h2 id="051e46c2-c235-4f21-9912-d1e5278d6539">Polaris Dawn plans to fly through a radiation belt</h2><p>Along with Isaacman, the crew includes a former US Air Force pilot named Scott Poteet and two <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/working-for-elon-musk-spacex-workplace-culture-twitter-jim-cantrell-2022-11">SpaceX engineers</a>, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.</p><div type="image" title="four people in white and grey spacesuits sit in a row of seats with footrests inside a spaceship" height="1407" width="2500" msid="112666832" hostid="261" sizebytes="228668"></div><p>They're scheduled to spend about five days in space, soaring further from Earth than anybody has gone since the Apollo era <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moon-missions-why-astronauts-have-not-returned-2018-7">more than 50 years ago</a>.</p><p>As they travel up to 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from Earth's surface, they should pass through the Van Allen radiation belts, which are two donuts of intense radiation surrounding Earth.</p><div type="image" title="illustration of earth with red and green bubbles of radiation called van allen belts" height="1441" width="2560" msid="112666834" hostid="261" sizebytes="104084"></div><p>They plan to study how that environment affects their bodies since future missions to Mars would expose passengers to immense amounts of space radiation for months.</p><h2 id="2879be12-6895-4b0e-a7f5-f92dd83585c1">A first-of-its-kind spacewalk plan</h2><p>On day three, if everything goes according to plan, they'll do a spacewalk. About 700 kilometers (435 miles) above Earth, the crew plans to don a set of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-astronauts-cannot-wear-axiom-black-spacesuit-on-moon-2023-3">new spacesuits</a>, open the Crew Dragon's hatch, and send Isaacman and Gillis into space on umbilical cables, each of them keeping contact with handholds on the spaceship.</p><p>Because Dragon has no airlock, this will depressurize the spacecraft's cabin and expose its entire interior to the void.</p><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="112666831" hostid="261" sizebytes="62388"></div><p>A Dragon spaceship has never been opened up to the vacuum of space like that.</p><p>"You are taking on a lot of risk at that point," Isaacman said, adding that he thought SpaceX had mitigated the risks well through testing and spaceship upgrades.</p><p>He said the spacewalk was the main focus of the mission preparations, almost to the point that he worried about being "way too focused" on it. SpaceX also subjected every part of the mission to "paranoia reviews," starting over to double-check everything, he said.</p><p>When astronauts conduct spacewalks from the space station, they do a "pre-breathe" process: They breathe pure oxygen for a few hours to pull nitrogen out of their bloodstream. Otherwise, the decrease in air pressure from the spacewalk could cause the nitrogen to form bubbles in their blood and give them a dangerous condition called the "bends."</p><p>Polaris Dawn also plans to do a pre-breathe, but stretch it over 48 hours as they slowly depressurize the cabin. They've already practiced this in a two-day simulation on the ground.</p><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="112666826" hostid="261" sizebytes="346404"></div><p>"I like the plan," Abhi Tripathi, a former Dragon mission director at SpaceX, who now directs mission operations at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, told BI in an email. "It's a rational and incremental step, partially paid for by a private individual."</p><p>He added that Crew Dragon was designed "from the beginning" to withstand unplanned depressurization events and that he doesn't see "any special risks."</p><h2 id="75916e01-2355-4a87-9af1-349e132f081c">New SpaceX spacesuits</h2><p>A major goal of the spacewalk is to test out SpaceX's first extravehicular spacesuits, which use new textiles and joint designs for increased mobility. The suits also feature a "heads-up" display in the mask, which shows the wearer real-time information about the suit's internal pressure, temperature, and humidity.</p><p>"You're throwing away all the safety of your vehicle," Isaacman said of the spacewalk.</p><p>"Your suit becomes your spaceship," he added.</p><h2 id="7726ede7-be98-4a5d-ae61-4abb537574bd">Crew Dragon has a strong spaceflight record, except for the toilet</h2><p>Dragon spaceships have flown eight crews of astronauts to and from the space station for NASA, as well as four private missions.</p><p>The vehicle's first private mission — which was also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-inspiration4-first-space-tourists-return-to-earth-2021-9">the world's first all-tourist spaceflight</a> — was also sponsored and led by Isaacman. That flight, called Inspiration4, carried its four passengers through Earth's orbit for three days.</p><p>It went smoothly, except for a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-discovers-urine-leak-on-crew-dragon-spaceships-2021-10">toilet malfunction aboard Dragon</a>. A tube carrying urine broke loose in a compartment beneath the spaceship's cabin floor.</p><p>The pee didn't make it into the cabin where the passengers were living. Other than <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-inspiration4-mission-toilet-fan-malfunctioned-elon-musk-crew-dragon-2021-9">fixing a toilet system fan</a> that set off an alarm, the crew said they didn't notice the contamination until they'd landed.</p><p>Isaacman and his new Polaris Dawn crew are flying on that same spaceship.</p><h2 id="8068d735-2570-4586-bb0e-2d1f1ff824b6">Isaacman's Polaris program plans to fly the first people on Starship</h2><p>This is just the first mission of SpaceX's and Isaacman's Polaris program. The project has not yet announced details for its second mission.</p><p>The program's third mission, however, is set to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX's gargantuan Starship. That's the workhorse rocketship that Musk plans to one day use to ferry a million people to Mars.</p><div type="image" title="SpaceX Starship lifts off from the launchpad during a flight test  on April 20, 2023, in Boca Chica, Texas." height="1584" width="2400" msid="112666827" hostid="261" sizebytes="75216"></div><p>Starship, which stands taller than the Statue of Liberty, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-flight-four-ocean-splashdown-elon-musk-plans-2024-6">flew to space and returned in one piece</a> for the first time in June. It has many more test flights ahead before SpaceX plans to put a Polaris crew on board.</p>

SpaceX is launching 4 people on a risky mission to fly through radiation belts and do the first commercial spacewalk

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12067646" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jared-isaacman" source="Orion">Jared Isaacman</keyword> plans to return to space after leading <keyword id="11908743" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex" source="Orion">SpaceX</keyword>'s Inspiration4 mission last year.</li><li>The billionaire astronaut said he plans to launch up to three missions with SpaceX.</li></ul><p>Jared Isaacman <a href="https://polarisprogram.com/">announced</a> on Monday that he plans to fly to outer space with SpaceX again, after participating in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-spacex-first-civilians-trained-for-spaceflight-photos-2021-9">Inspiration4</a>, the company's first private flight to orbit last year.</p><p>The billionaire astronaut has commissioned up to three spaceflights with <keyword id="11897862" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk" source="Orion">Elon Musk</keyword>'s company as part of an initiative called the <a href="https://polarisprogram.com/">Polaris Program.</a> Isaacman plans to launch a crew of four using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft as soon as later this year. </p><p>Isaacman will lead the first mission and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/14/jared-isaacman-polaris-spacex-starship-inspiration4/">told The Washington Post</a> it will include several historic firsts, including the first private spacewalk and crew testing of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-leaves-streaks-on-astronomical-images-2022-2">Starlink communications</a> in space. The mission will require the crew to spend up to five days in orbit and aims to send the group farther than any other human spaceflight in 50 years. </p><p>In addition to Isaacman, the crew for the first mission will include another member of the Inspiration4 mission, Scott Poteet, as well as two SpaceX engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. The first flight will test human health on long duration trips into space, paving the way for a future in outer space.</p><p>"The Polaris Program is an important step in advancing human space exploration while helping to solve problems through the use of innovative technology here on Earth," Isaacman said in a <a href="https://polarisprogram.com/polaris-program-will-undertake-a-series-of-pioneering-spacex-dragon-missions-demonstrating-new-technologies-and-culminating-in-the-first-human-spaceflight-on-starship/">press release.</a></p><p>In its second flight, the Polaris Program plans to use SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, which NASA uses to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronauts-space-station-flew-spacex-crew-dragon-to-new-port-2021-4">transport astronauts</a> to the <keyword id="11969448" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international-space-station" source="Orion">International Space Station</keyword>. The third flight would be on SpaceX's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-elon-musk-share-update-on-spacex-starship-megarocket-2022-2">next-generation Starship</a>. SpaceX is still in the process of developing the spaceship, but NASA plans to use it to eventually <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-spacex-moon-landing-starship-could-delayed-several-years-oig-2021-11">return to the moon</a>.</p><p>SpaceX and Isaacman did not respond to a request for comment from Insider regarding how much the endeavor will cost.</p><p>Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payment processing company Shift4, previously funded SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission — a flight that sent Isaacman and three other private citizens into orbit for three days in September. At the time, Isaacman <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/14/jared-isaacman-buys-private-spacex-flights-for-polaris-program.html">hinted</a> that he wanted to return to space on future flights.</p><p>Much like the Inspiration4 mission, the Polaris Program will also raise funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.</p>

A billionaire astronaut bought up to three SpaceX flights and hopes to begin a new mission later this year

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Sony Pictures Classics</span></p><p class="caption">"Equity."</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The financial world has been explored on the big screen from Gordon Gekko's greed in "Wall Street" to the housing market bust in "The Big Short," but a movie has never looked at this cutthroat world from a female perspective - until now.</p><p>For over two years, the movie "Equity" was the passion project of actresses Alysia Reiner (Natalie Figueroa in "Orange Is the New Black") and Sarah Megan Thomas, who - along with screenwriter Amy Fox - spent time embedded with females who work on Wall Street to capture the challenges they face through a compelling feature drama.</p><p>The project grabbed the attention of director Meera Menon and "Breaking Bad" star Anna Gunn, who signed on to play the film's lead, senior investment banker Naomi Bishop.</p><p>"I just wanted to know more about this world and this woman," Gunn told Business Insider about why she took on the role.</p><p>Menon felt the same way, as she was drawn in by the perspective of women working in a male-dominated work world.</p><p>"What really hooked me was Naomi's speech in the beginning about why she does what she does is because she likes money," Menon told Business Insider. "I wanted to understand who she was."</p><p>The film follows Naomi as, recently denied a promotion, she attempts to one-up her male colleagues by taking the IPO for the newest social-media platform that's taking the world by storm.</p><p>With only five months before cameras started rolling, Menon and Gunn worked on their prep. For Menon, it was creating, on an independent film budget, a world of high finance and luxuries that major players in the business live on.</p><p>Gunn not only talked to the people who confided in Reiner and Thomas - who also star in the movie - but she also found insight after taking a tour inside Goldman Sachs.</p><p>She admits that she was very keen to the fact that there were very few women there, but the ones she did meet helped greatly.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Robin Marchant/Getty</span></p><p class="caption">Alysia Reiner, Anna Gunn, Meera Menon, and Sarah Megan Thomas.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>"We all had dinner that night, and in that less formal setting I got to do my detective work in terms of watching everyone and taking pieces of them all for Naomi," said Gunn.</p><p>Menon and Gunn said that they couldn't help but take some of the experiences from their own lives working in the male-dominant movie business and put it in the film.</p><p>"It's that feeling of scarcity and wanting more," said Gunn, comparing the lack of opportunities for women on Wall Street and the lack of roles for women in the movie business.</p><p>"The attitude of working 10 times harder to get half as far," Menon added. "The constant fight for relevance that I don't think men experience as acutely."</p><p>This is highlighted in a scene in "Equity," where Naomi, while frantic on the day her IPO opens on the market, finds that while having a snack with her team, the chocolate-chip cookie she's given has less chocolate chips than the cookies her male counterparts received. This makes her goes ballistic.</p><p>The scene is funny, but is also a social commentary on equal rights in the workplace that hasn't been lost on audiences. At the film's screening at the Tribeca Film Festival, many of the women in the audience cheered loudly during the scene.</p><p>"That's a story [Reiner and Thomas] was told of a real encounter that took place on the trading floor," said Menon.</p><p>"It was a scene that made us laugh in rehearsal, but we never realized the impact it would have with audiences," said Gunn.</p><p>Sony Pictures Classics bought the film at this year's Sundance Film Festival and will release it on July 29. As word of mouth begins to grow for the film, Gunn hopes that there's not just an empowerment female audiences get from the movie, but also an understanding that in a position of authority "likability" is not a necessity.</p><p>She said:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">That's one thing I'm proud this movie is exploring, the whole concept of being likable. I remember a lot of the women saying that, too, when I did research, "There's a fine line to walk." Hopefully, that question of whether a woman in a leadership role is likable or not will cease to be such a thing and it will be about the person's talents and character and their goals. It's something that I feel men don't have to necessarily deal with.</p><p><em>"Equity" <a href="https://tribecafilm.com/filmguide/equity-2016">screens at the Tribeca Film Festival</a> on April 24.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-debate-flint-wall-street-politics-michigan-2016-3">'Excuse me, I'm talking': Watch Clinton and Sanders spar over Wall Street at the Democratic debate</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BoNzBwMTE636rlADTyqWpegqYy1AZ5jM" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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