SpaceX mission Crew of "Polaris Dawn" has landed
Engineer Sarah Gillis on her way out of the capsule.
Image: dpa
This image from a SpaceX video shows the start of the spacewalk.
Image: dpa
The Crew Dragon has no airlock - it goes straight out into space, as this illustration shows.
Image: dpa
Jared Isaacman (left) and Sarah Gillis (second from right) stretched out of the hatch of the Crew Dragon for a few minutes. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
The Falcon 9 rocket was launched into space at extreme altitudes.
Image: dpa
Engineer Sarah Gillis on her way out of the capsule.
Image: dpa
This image from a SpaceX video shows the start of the spacewalk.
Image: dpa
The Crew Dragon has no airlock - it goes straight out into space, as this illustration shows.
Image: dpa
Jared Isaacman (left) and Sarah Gillis (second from right) stretched out of the hatch of the Crew Dragon for a few minutes. (archive picture)
Image: dpa
The Falcon 9 rocket was launched into space at extreme altitudes.
Image: dpa
Four private astronauts ascend to an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, two briefly stick their noses out of the capsule: The "Polaris Dawn" space mission produced great images. Now the crew is back.
15.09.2024, 09:50
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No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The private space mission "Polaris Dawn" ended with the safe splashdown of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on Sunday.
- During the mission, the four amateur astronauts climbed to an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, the greatest distance to Earth since the Apollo missions.
- A highlight was the first commercial spacewalk, during which two crew members worked in new space suits without an airlock at the open entrance to the spacecraft.
The private space mission "Polaris Dawn" has come to an end. SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft landed in the sea on Sunday morning (CEST), as can be seen on live images from the company. According to earlier SpaceX statements, the spaceship was supposed to touch down near the southern tip of Florida.
The trip by billionaire Jared Isaacman and three other amateur astronauts began on Tuesday morning. After the launch from the Cape Canaveral spaceport on the west coast of Florida, the Crew Dragon ascended to an altitude of around 1,400 kilometers.
This is the greatest distance from humans to Earth since the last Apollo missions to the moon in the early 1970s, SpaceX emphasized. The ISS space station, which has been in operation for decades, is located at an altitude of around 400 kilometers.
Spacewalk without an airlock
Later came the riskiest part of the venture, billed by SpaceX as the "first commercial spacewalk". Isaacman and SpaceX employee Sarah Gillis were to remain outside for 15 to 20 minutes at a time and test the spacesuits used for the first time. However, the amateur astronauts did not float freely in space during the activity, which only lasted a few minutes each, around 740 kilometers above the Earth; they remained on a kind of ladder in the entrance to the Crew Dragon.
As the Crew Dragon, unlike the ISS, does not have an airlock, all four members of the crew, including former jet pilot Kidd Poteet and SpaceX employee Anna Menon, had to slip into the spacesuit. With the hatch open, they were also exposed to the vacuum of space and there was no air to breathe in the cabin.
