Not like sunrise around the entire planet, the Polaris Dawn mission. Originally scheduled for Monday morning, August 26 at 3:38 AM, the delay is 24 hours to Tuesday, August 27, same time, same launch pad (39A).
The delay was announced Wednesday night (Aug. 21), in a post by SpaceX on X, formerly twitter, accompanied by a a mission preview video highlighting the crew, modified Dragon spacecraft, and SpaceX's new extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits.
"The new date allows additional time for teams to complete preflight checkouts ahead of next week’s launch," SpaceX wrote in a follow-up post, specifying the reason for the 24-hour schedule change.
Over the course of the last couple of years, I've read some of the stories of the changes SpaceX had to make to the Dragon, and the spacesuits. Dragon never had the type of airlock they need for opening and re-sealing in space or enough compressed air storage to refill the capsule for all of the walks they might want to do. Clearly this all needs to be tested, but testing the ExtraVehicular Activity or EVA suit is the biggest milestone of the mission. Much like the first spacewalk by Ed White back in the Gemini days, when the airlock is open, everybody is exposed to the hard vacuum of space, so all four of them will be wearing the EVA suits, not just Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis who will do the actual EVA.
Testing SpaceX's EVA suit is Polaris Dawn's most critical experiment, and will take place on the third day of the mission. Visually, the spacesuit appears similar to SpaceX's IVA (intravehicular activity) suits, which are worn only inside the spacecraft. Opening Dragon's hatch to expose the cabin and its occupants to the harsh environment of space meant redesigning the spacecraft's interior and upgrading the spacesuits with an enhanced thermal management system that uses additional insulative materials, as well as a new coating on the visor of the suit's helmet.
The spacewalk on flight day three - now August 29 - is expected to last two hours from cabin depressurization to repressurization. Since the modifications to the airlock go in the area that Inspiration4 had a cupola to stare out of, one might think the crew isn't going to be able to spend lots of time looking around at the beauty outside. I imagine they'll get some time, somehow.
The Polaris Dawn Crew, even in the same order we usually see them, in their EVA suits in front of the Crew Dragon they'll fly. That's (L-R) Mission Specialist Anna Menon, Pilot Scott Poteet, Commander Jared Isaacman, and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis. Image credit: ShaneMielke.com the developer of the Heads Up Display (HUD) inside the suits.
Really looking forward to seeing the after-action report on the new suits. From what I've seen, they are the most maneuverable and least bulky EVA suits ever made, even less bulky than most IVA suits from other manufacturers.
ReplyDeleteAs to the airlock issue, I'm sure that if there was a Crew Dragon Mk II, there'd be some real changes regarding airlocks, vision ports and such.
But since Starship is supposed to supersede Dragon for many purposes, I doubt we'll see Crew Dragon Mk II or III. Which is sad, as there is a need for a small crewed ship in space. Not everything can/should be solved by Starship.
Does the helmet stay attached to the top half of the suit? If so that helmet visor arrangement makes a lot more sense for long hair, which otherwise would lie across a neck ring.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've never seen anything about how the suits work.
DeleteIf my hair was going to be an issue in space, I wouldn't have any problem just cutting it off. I would expect that (for many reasons) a buzz cut would be the best hair style in a spacecraft, for men and women.
DeleteWhen the two astronauts go outside for the walkabout, the two astronauts inside are also in vacuum and may as well stick their heads out the door for a look around. Not a full space walk, more like standing up in a convertible but still worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and they can stick their hands out into the airstream and move them around..............
DeleteOh, wait....... ;P