Stock Market News

Factbox-SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission: Who are the astronauts doing the spacewalk?

2024.08.26 13:41

(Reuters) – SpaceX’s Polaris (NYSE:) Dawn mission is poised to make history this week with the first privately managed spacewalk, a risky endeavour previously undertaken only by government astronauts .

Two of the mission’s four-member crew will venture out of their Crew Dragon capsule in Earth’s orbit for a tethered spacewalk, marking the first major test of SpaceX’s new spacesuits.

The capsule lacks an airlock and will completely depressurize for the spacewalk, requiring all four crew members to rely on their suits for survival.

The mission, scheduled for launch at 3:38 a.m. ET (0738 GMT) on Aug. 27 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is expected to last six days, with the spacewalk planned for the third day.

Here’s a look at the profile of the astronauts:

JARED ISAACMAN

Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of payments processing firm Shift4 Payments and a seasoned pilot, is commanding the Polaris Dawn mission and will be one of the two members – along with Sarah Gillis – performing the spacewalk outside the capsule.

He is bankrolling the mission under his Polaris program, although he declined to disclose the total expenditure, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The mission will be his second foray into space, following his leadership of the first all-civilian Inspiration4 mission to orbit Earth in 2021, organized and primarily funded by him in partnership with SpaceX.

After Polaris Dawn, Isaacman has two more missions planned under the Polaris program – another flight on Crew Dragon followed by a flight on Starship, SpaceX’s next-generation rocket under development. He has not announced crewmates or dates for those flights.

SARAH GILLIS

Gillis has trained astronauts and now is becoming one herself. She graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with an engineering degree, began as an intern at SpaceX in 2015 and is now the company’s senior space operations engineer. Her responsibilities include training astronauts on safety and flight operations.

Gillis, Polaris Dawn’s mission specialist, has trained NASA astronauts for several operations, including International Space Stations Dragon missions Demo-2 and Crew-1 and Inspiration4 mission in 2021.

SCOTT POTEET

Poteet, the mission pilot for Polaris Dawn, had a 20-year career in the U.S. Air Force, with more than 3,200 flight hours in various aircraft including the F-16 fighter jet.

Poteet’s involvement in the private space sector began when he served as Mission Director for the Inspiration4 mission.

The New Hampshire native’s role in the latest mission extends beyond just piloting the spacecraft to assisting with the spacewalk, providing communication support and collaborating with mission control.

Poteet was the vice president of strategy at Isaacman’s Shift4 company until 2022, according to his LinkedIn. Until 2020, he was a business development director at defense contractor Draken International, founded by Isaacman, before he sold a majority stake in the firm to Blackstone (NYSE:) in 2019.

ANNA MENON

Menon is a mission specialist and medical officer for the program and is a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX, where she manages the development of crew operations, ensuring that procedures and protocols are in place for astronauts during their missions. 

The former NASA biomedical flight controller will be responsible for the crew’s health and well-being during the Polaris Dawn mission, monitoring their physiological responses and providing medical care if needed.

© Reuters. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is prepared for launch of Polaris Dawn, a private human spaceflight mission, at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. August 26, 2024. Two crew members are expected to attempt the first-ever private spacewalk. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

She holds a Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University.

Menon is married to Anil Menon, a former SpaceX flight surgeon who is currently a NASA astronaut-in-training.



Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 104,791.08 0.71%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,311.21 0.91%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 3.10 0.49%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.02%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 253.38 0.45%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 680.13 1.53%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.00%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.35057 0.62%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.97114 1.83%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,306.78 0.86%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.254332 0.32%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 25.18 2.11%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 35.29 1.08%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,946.70 0.32%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 104,246.93 0.45%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.430427 0.46%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 5.06 1.21%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 4.19 3.04%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.32683 0.51%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.00002 1.14%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,306.96 0.85%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 6.31 0.91%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 9.71 0.32%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 118.88 2.06%
bitget-token
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 7.41 2.75%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 432.51 1.13%
hyperliquid
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 23.02 4.61%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 12.45 3.14%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.04%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,504.03 0.31%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000015 2.88%
official-trump
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 29.85 14.24%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 4.98 0.24%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 0.999926 0.04%
aave
Aave (AAVE) $ 334.71 1.25%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 8.19 2.02%
ondo-finance
Ondo (ONDO) $ 1.40 3.59%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 9.04 2.08%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 27.38 5.89%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 28.51 1.26%
monero
Monero (XMR) $ 220.22 0.42%
mantle
Mantle (MNT) $ 1.18 4.39%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.047541 3.14%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.13795 1.39%
jupiter-exchange-solana
Jupiter (JUP) $ 0.844141 4.86%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.432198 2.33%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.00%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 6.87 2.71%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.50 4.88%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.131682 0.65%