Crew Dragon: Polaris Dawn (research mission)


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Spacewalks testing new suits, will travel through the inner Van Allen radiation belt (1,400km), laser communications using  Starlink, medical research...

Date: NET July 12

Time: TBA

Pad: LC-39A

Booster: B1083.4

Crew Dragon: C207 Resilience

Direction: 5 days

Commander: Jared Isaacman

Pilot: Scott "Kidd" Poteet; USAF (Ret), Thunderbirds, 64th Aggressor Squadron

Mission specialist 1: Sarah Gillis; Mission Director, SpaceX

Mission specialist 2: Anna Menon; Medical Officer, SpaceX

Mission review: Tim Dodd & crew (38m). Good stuff. 

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Polaris Dawn

Now that some of the scheduling confusion from Starliner and starting to resolve...

Date: August 26, 2024

Time: (??) AM EDT

Pad: LC-39A

Booster: B1083.4

Crew Dragon: C207 Resilience

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Posted (edited)

Date: August 26, 2024

Time: 0338 Eastern (0738 UT)

https://polarisprogram.com/polaris-dawn-a-groundbreaking-commercial-spaceflight-mission-to-launch-on-august-26-2024/

 

“After more than two years of training, we are excited to embark on this mission,” said Jared Isaacman, commander of the Polaris Dawn mission. “We are incredibly thankful for this opportunity and to the thousands of SpaceX engineers who have contributed to this endeavor. We hope the results from our mission will accelerate SpaceX’s vision to make life multiplanetary and support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and its efforts to improve global survival rates for childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Throughout our mission, we will aim to inspire humankind to look up and imagine what we can achieve here on Earth and in the worlds beyond our own.”

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Former NASA exec & now SpaceXer Bill "Gerst" Gerstenmaier's comments in the last few minutes of this mission briefing say it all

 

Edited by DocM
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Posted (edited)

Polaris Dawn delayed one day - ground side umbilical leak.

Date: August 28

Time opportunities:

0338 Eastern (0738 GMT) 

0523 Eastern (0923 GMT) 

0709 Eastern (1109 GMT)

They will be using the nose cone for debris mitigation while they are spacewalking.

Edited by DocM
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https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=polarisdawn

 

Due to unfavorable weather forecasted in Dragon’s splashdown areas off the coast of Florida, SpaceX is standing down from Falcon 9's launch opportunities of Polaris Dawn on Wednesday, August 28 and Thursday, August 29. SpaceX teams will continue to monitor weather for favorable launch and return conditions

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New Polaris Dawn launch date 

(Weather Gods permitting)

Date: September 4, 2024

Time: 0338 Eastern (0728 UTC)

Pad: LC-39a

No streaming links yet

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Spacewalk was actually very cool to watch. Anyone know the schedule for reentry?

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On 12/09/2024 at 10:16, Biscuits Brown said:

Spacewalk was actually very cool to watch. Anyone know the schedule for reentry?

The weather around Florida  has been a pretty flaky, hurricane season, so it'll probably be whatever opportunity arises on or before the 15th. 

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson weighs in. NASA and US government want a very active US space economy, and things don't get much more active than SpaceX - last year they launched 87% of the world's total mass to orbit.

 

 

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when are they due back down? Dragon is quite spacious but I think I'd be feeling claustrophobic by now.

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On 13/09/2024 at 17:05, anthdci said:

when are they due back down? Dragon is quite spacious but I think I'd be feeling claustrophobic by now.

On or about the 15th, weather gods controlling the opportunities. They can splash down off either Florida's Gulf or Atlantic coast, SpaceX has recovery ships on both.

++++++++++

 

20240913_204902.thumb.jpg.12f5d38cc05bb77a543098650c9445a1.jpg

 

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POLARIS DAWN SPLASHDOWN

After launching to orbit on Tuesday, September 10, Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will return to Earth on Sunday, September 15, splashing down at approximately 3:36 a.m. ET off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida.

A live webcast of the return will begin about one hour prior to splashdown, which you can watch on spacex.com and X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.

During their multi-day mission to orbit, Dragon and the crew reached 1,408.1 km – the highest Earth orbit ever flown since the Apollo program – and participated in the first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA) from Dragon wearing SpaceX-developed EVA suits. They have also conducted ~36 research studies and experiments from 31 partner institutions designed to advance both human health on Earth and during long-duration spaceflight, and tested Starlink laser-based communications in space.

Go SpaceX! Go Polaris Dawn!

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Return Timeline
All Times Approximate and in Eastern Time

Sunday, Sept. 15    Event
2:35 a.m.    Trunk jettison
2:40 a.m.    Deorbit burn start
2:47 a.m.    Deorbit burn end
2:51 a.m.    Nosecone closed
3:32 a.m.    Drogue parachutes deploy
3:33 a.m.    Main parachutes deploy
3:36 a.m.    Dragon splashdown

 

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