As I start to write, it's around 8:30 PM ET. Polaris Dawn is scheduled to splashdown just west of the Dry Tortugas - the westernmost extent of the Florida Keys - at 3:36 AM ET. I'm guessing that with the splashdown almost exactly seven hours from now, they'll either soon be waking up to their last few hours in orbit or they just have.
The team put up another video today, a few minutes describing some of the
medical tests they've been doing as part of the "36 experiments from 31
partner institutions" they've been completing. The Space.com video ends with a
few seconds video of Jared Isaacman's spacewalk.
As this is a mission intended to increase donations to St. Jude Children's
Research Hospital for pediatric cancers and other problems, the Hospital is an
overarching supporter of the mission and something that drives the force
behind the space mission, Jared Isaacman. Because of that, the crew has had
video communications with the hospital and patients. I haven't seen links to
any of those.
As they quipped at Space.com, "Like every other major milestone of the Polaris Dawn mission, you're going to have to be awake in the middle of the night to catch the action." For those getting or staying up to watch, SpaceX provides this handy schedule to follow:
While it's difficult to truly know, the mission has seemed completely successful so far and achieved all of their major goals. Meanwhile, SpaceX has kept doing what they do best, launching payloads to orbit. There was a Starlink launch from Vandenberg yesterday, the 13th, and a customer's satellites from Cape Canaveral on the 12th (AST SpaceMobile’s cellphone-compatible Bluebird Block 1). On Monday, they'll launch two more Galileo navigation satellites for the European Union (the EU's "GPS").
I'm glad to see that the FAA and other federal agencies aren't holding back the Falcon/Dragon side of SpaceX.
ReplyDeleteTruly an amazing mission. Can't wait to see what they come up with next.
Is the EU putting up it's own GPS system as a defense against the US?
ReplyDeleteAre things that bad behind the scenes, or is it just to prop up an inefficient EU space industry?
A billionaire setting records in his own private space mission seems like an odd way to raise money for a children's hospital...
Maybe. But, it works!
DeleteSure it works. When a billionaire tells the business community to donate to anything, they will. It's a solid business investment.
DeleteBut it just feels like an add-on. In today's Media Worldview, they are a bunch of over-privileged white people blowing wads of cash on an indulgence. Almost exactly like the crew that died going to the Titanic. Remember the endless jokes about their deaths? What would the democrat media be saying about the jew and the all-white crew?
Anyway, it was a brilliant move and I applaud it. The only real problem here is my attitude.
Wow, and odd way indeed? Public awareness across the globe generates far more dollars for children's research that a billionaire emptying his pockets.
ReplyDeleteCheck the population of the USA someday. Some of the most generous givers across the globe.
All in all, a fine report of goodwill (even if a billionaire aid for it instead of taxpayers) in a time of nuclear saber rattling.
They're down. Textbook SpaceX perfection.
ReplyDeleteI understand NASA's people on the ISS had a really good view of Polaris Dawn's re-entry.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to be doing orbital insertion with chickies in microgravity with the mane of hair. Even better than a waterbed. Mars Needs Women! Especially women engineers with big smiles.
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