SpaceX on Saturday unveiled its first-generation extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuit, which will be donned by astronauts aboard the Polaris Dawn mission, scheduled for no earlier than this summer. Polaris Dawn—a five-day, four-person orbital mission to research human health both in space and on Earth—is the first of three potential human spaceflights under the Polaris Program.

SpaceX and entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who founded the program in February 2022, held a discussion accompanying the announcement on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, which SpaceX CEO Elon Musk acquired in October..

While the mission has no firm launch date, SpaceX on Saturday confirmed that Polaris Dawn would be the next crewed mission the company will fly.

What Is Polaris?

The Polaris Program is the brainchild of Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of integrated payments provider Shift4 who is also a pilot and astronaut, with more than 7,000 flight hours and multiple experimental and ex-military aircraft ratings. Isaacman in 2012 founded Draken International, a private air force that trains pilots for the U.S. Armed Forces.

Isaacman purchased flights from SpaceX in February 2022 to launch the program and is funding Polaris Dawn himself.

Named after the constellation of three stars more commonly known as the North Star, or Polaris, the program comprises three potential missions, one for each star. The effort aims to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities with an eye toward future missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond. Simultaneously, it will raise funds and advance research into issues facing humanity on Earth, such as cancer.

Polaris Dawn, the first of the three missions, was announced in 2022 and expected to fly later that year. It has since been delayed multiple times, most recently from February to mid-2024, due in part to SpaceX’s development of the specially designed EVA spacesuits.

Polaris Dawn and a second mission without a timeline, simply called Mission II, will be flown using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule. Both vehicles are already in use by NASA and a handful of commercial customers, such as Axiom Space.

Falcon 9, a reusable two-stage rocket, is the world’s first orbital class reusable rocket and has been lauded for driving down launch costs in flying 330 times. Crew Dragon, which is capable of carrying up to seven passengers, in 2020 restored NASA’s ability to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) with the first Commercial Crew rotation mission. It has flown a total of 46 missions, visiting the ISS on 42.

Polaris is expected to culminate in a third mission comprising the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Like Falcon 9, the spacecraft is designed to be fully reusable and has so far attempted three orbital test flights, each more successful than the last.

Isaacman has been outspoken about Polaris’ aim to make human spaceflight accessible to all. The new SpaceX suits, for example, are designed to fit a range of body types and accommodate all spacewalkers.

At the same time, the billionaire aviator is focused on solving problems on Earth. Since its founding, Polaris has worked closely with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and helped fund research into childhood cancer.

Civilians in Space

Polaris Dawn is notable for its four-person crew, which includes the first SpaceX employees expected to actually reach space.

Mission specialist Sarah Gillis oversees the company’s astronaut training program, while mission specialist and medical officer Anna Menon manages crew operations. Gillis, trained to be a classical violinist, joined SpaceX in 2015, while Menon is a seven-year NASA veteran. But both have been part of past Crew Dragon flights. Menon in particular was influential in developing Dragon’s crew and emergency response capabilities.

Joining the SpaceX employees will be pilot Scott Poteet, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel with more than 3,200 flying hours in the F-16, A-4, T-38, T-37, T-3, and Alpha Jet.

Isaacman himself will serve as Polaris Dawn mission commander, a role he also filled for  SpaceX’s 2021 Inspiration4 mission: the first all-civilian mission to space. Poteet, who previously served in roles at Isaacson’s companies Shift4 and Draken, was mission director for that flight, which raised $250 million for St. Jude.

To prepare for Polaris Dawn, crewmembers lived inside the decompression chamber at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for two days, summited the 16,800-foot peak of Illinizas Norte volcano in Ecuador, and experienced 9 Gs of force while training on three different kinds of fighter jets.

The mission will launch from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will spend up to five days in orbit, performing about 40 experiments and testing of hardware and software. Like Inspiration4, it is a charitable effort, with the goal of raising additional funds for St. Jude.

“Fifty or 100 years from now, people are going to be jumping in their rockets, and you’re going to have families bouncing around on the moon with their kids at a lunar base,” said Isaacman in an article on the St. Jude website. “If we can accomplish all of that, we sure as heck better tackle childhood cancer along the way.”

Polaris Dawn aims to fly higher than any SpaceX Dragon mission to date, a height that hasn’t been reached since the end of the Apollo program half a century ago.

The crew will also attempt to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown. Isaacman during the discussion on X said the mission will target an apogee of 1,400 kilometers, or about 870 miles, more than double the orbital height reached by Apollo 17. That orbit would place the crew just inside the Van Allen radiation belt, where it hopes to research effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health.

“The benefit of being at this high altitude is that we can better understand the impacts of that environment…on both the human body…as well as on the spacecraft,” said Menon during the discussion on X.

Suit Up

The Dragon capsule will complete seven elliptical orbits until reaching its apogee before descending to a circular orbit at about 700 kilometers (435 miles). At that altitude, crewmembers will attempt the first commercial spacewalk. It would also be the first time four astronauts have been exposed to the vacuum of space at the same time, according to SpaceX.

The spacewalk will mark the first use of SpaceX’s EVA spacesuit in low-Earth orbit, a key milestone that is expected to inform future iterations of the design for long-duration missions.

It’s an evolution of SpaceX’s Intravehicular Activity (IVA) suit that has been modified to enable both intra and extravehicular use. In other words, personnel won’t need to change clothes when moving from the confines of the spacecraft to the harsh environment of space.

The EVA suit adds greater mobility, seals and pressure valves, a helmet camera, and textile-based thermal material, which regulates suit temperature and can be controlled using a dial. Boots were constructed from the same thermal material used to shield Falcon and Dragon from exposure.

“There was a lot of work on both the materials of the suit, developing a whole new layer that we needed to add for thermal management as well as looking at the thermal condition for the crewmembers themselves, and making sure that they were at a comfortable temperature inside the suit,” said Chris Drake, manager of SpaceX’s spacesuit team, on Saturday.

The 3D-printed helmet incorporates a new visor designed to reduce glare as well as a state-of-the-art, heads-up display (HUD). The HUD is active only during spacewalks and displays spacesuit pressure, temperature, and humidity, as well as a mission clock to track how long the astronauts are exposed to the vacuum of space.

Already, SpaceX is developing a second-generation EVA suit for missions to the moon and Mars. It estimates that millions of suits will be required to one day build a lunar base or Martian city.

“This is important because we are going to get to the moon and Mars one day, and we’re going to have to get out of our vehicles and out of the safety of the habitat to explore and build and repair things,” Isaacman said during the discussion on X.

The Dragon capsule has also required modifications to prepare for the landmark spacewalk. SpaceX on Saturday said a structure called “Skywalker” has been attached near the capsule’s hatch to act as a mobility aid. Handrails and foot rails have been installed inside the spacecraft, with a ladder interface added to the hatch opening.

SpaceX also installed a cabin pressurization system that allows the interior of the capsule to withstand the vacuum of space as air is sucked out during the spacewalk. A repressurization system will stabilize it once the astronauts return.

Why It Matters

In addition to achieving the first commercial spacewalk and the highest orbital altitude ever recorded, Polaris Dawn hopes to test Starlink laser-based communications in space for the first time. Data from the test could help develop space communications for future missions.

In addition, Polaris and SpaceX selected 38 scientific experiments from 23 partner institutions—including NASA, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University—intended to advance the understanding of human health in space and on Earth.

The crew will use ultrasound to study decompression sickness, for example, and will research spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome: a disease unique to humans who fly in space that can have severe debilitating effects. Upon landing, astronauts will undergo tests to study anemia—an unavoidable effect of traveling to space—and other conditions that might impact humans on Earth.

The scientific aims of the Polaris Program differ from the commercial spaceflight ventures offered by companies such as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which could be classified more aptly as space tourism operations.

Tickets for those companies’ orbital and suborbital offerings, some of which involve research, can range from the hundreds of thousands of dollars to the millions. Isaacman and SpaceX’s Inspiration4, meanwhile, raised a quarter of a billion dollars for cancer research.

Isaacman has been particularly outspoken when it comes to accessibility in spaceflight. And by taking on much of the risk himself, the billionaire businessman has lessened the pressure on SpaceX. Isaacman’s funding of Polaris Dawn has allowed the company to focus on developing the spacesuits and other technology necessary to ensure the mission runs smoothly.

Polaris Dawn also represents a critical juncture for SpaceX’s Starship, the lynchpin of the company’s planned human spaceflight offerings. The largest rocket ever built is not quite ready to fly humans. But when it is, the third Polaris mission is expected to be its maiden voyage.

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The problem with the relief valve on the upper stage of the Atlas rocket was detected about two hours before the scheduled 10:34 p.m. EDT launch from Cape Canaveral.

“In a situation like this, if we see any data signature is not something that we have seen before, then we are just simply not willing to take any chances with what is our most precious payload,” United Launch Alliance spokesman Dillon Rice told reporters.

ULA is providing the rocket to boost the capsule into orbit for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS).

* READ MORE: What to Know About Boeing Starliner’s First Crewed Test Flight 

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had just strapped in when the decision to scrub was made. It’s not known how long it will take to fix the valve.

It’s the latest in a series of issues encountered getting the Starliner to space, although this is the first issue with the launch system. The first uncrewed test launch of the capsule in 2019 failed to get to the right orbit for the ISS. The second test reached the space station, but after it returned problems were found with the parachutes and flammable tape was discovered in the electrical system.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

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The spacecraft’s return marks the commercial space company’s 30th cargo resupply mission of the orbital outpost for the space agency.

Suspended under four deployed parachutes, the capsule landed in the Atlantic Ocean at 1:38 a.m. EST off the coast of Tampa, NASA said.

• READ MORE: NASA SpaceX Crew-8 Mission Successfully Launches After Delays

“Once Dragon has been retrieved by SpaceX’s recovery team, the critical science aboard the spacecraft will be transported via helicopter to [NASA’s Kennedy Space Center] and provided to researchers,”  SpaceX said in an update following the splashdown.

Later this week, the three NASA astronauts and a Roscosmos cosmonaut who comprise SpaceX Crew-8 currently aboard ISS are set to move a Dragon crew spacecraft capsule in order to make way for new crewmembers who could arrive at the space station as soon as next week. 

• READ MORE: NASA Astronauts Detail Daily Life, Firsts Aboard International Space Station

On Thursday, Crew-8 is set to move the Dragon crew spacecraft that is currently docked at the forward port of ISS’s Harmony module to its zenith port, NASA said. The undocking and redocking is expected to take less than an hour.

“That will clear the forward port of Harmony for the arrival of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft with Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams aboard on the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission,” NASA said.

• READ MORE: NASA Is Asking for Help to Return Samples That Could Uncover Life on Mars

Launch of the Boeing Crew Flight Test is planned for 10:34 p.m. Monday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It is expected to reach the ISS shortly before 1 a.m. EST May 8.

In preparation for the arrival of @NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test, four crew members will relocate the @SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the space-facing port of the Harmony module on Thursday, May 2.

Live coverage of the relocation will begin at 7:30am ET. https://t.co/JmNvsHSYGu

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) April 29, 2024

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NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission, which concluded in September, sent NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg and United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan AlNeyadi on a 186-day trip to the International Space Station, where they rendezvoused with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. But it was anything but a vacation.

“I used to joke about the fact that a lot of times in our videos, when we show what’s going on, we spend about a third of our time showing the fun stuff,” Bowen told FLYING at a media event at NASA Headquarters alongside his three crewmembers. “Work is way more than a third of the time we spend up there.”

The mission included several firsts. Rubio, for example, set the U.S. record for most consecutive days in space by the end of his 355-day stay, which was extended six months after the capsule that brought him to the space station was damaged. AlNeyadi became the first Arab to complete a spacewalk.

But the astronauts also conducted more than 200 experiments during their stay at the orbital lab—many of which could address pressing needs on Earth and far, far beyond.

To the Space Station and Back

Crew-6 began with the launch of a SpaceX Dragon Endeavor capsule, strapped to a Falcon 9 rocket, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Bowen, Hoburg, AlNeyadi, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev were its occupants. Rubio had launched previously aboard a Soyuz MS-22.

Bowen, a veteran of multiple trips to the space station, was right at home. But for Rubio, Hoburg, and AlNeyadi, Crew-6 was their first time in space.

“Learning to fly for the first couple days is pretty difficult,” Rubio said.

For AlNeyadi, adjusting to the lack of spatial awareness was the biggest challenge

“Everything is very quick aboard the space station…We have 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every day,” AlNeyadi told FLYING.

Bowen said the orbital lab has come a long way since his first visit in 2008. He was part of several assembly missions, which doubled the space station’s occupancy from three to six, installed technology such as a water recycling system, and delivered research and stowage modules. Crews also replaced the laboratory’s batteries several times.

“We were part of that first step of really making the space station functional,” Bowen told FLYING. “We did a lot of things with just three people on board. But as soon as we got up to six people, the ability to do the actual science—the business of the space station—exploded.”

The astronauts spent the next six months growing plants, researching tissue chips for heart, brain, and cartilage tissue, and conducting hundreds of other experiments for ISS Expedition 69. NASA expeditions refer to the crew occupying the space station—Rubio, Bowen, Hoburg, and AlNeyadi were the 69th such team.

After finishing their work, the astronauts began reentry, splashing down on September 4 after 186 days.

“Becoming a plasma meteorite when you’re coming home is pretty exciting stuff,” said Rubio.

But the research and experiments the crew performed are expected to have an impact long after the mission’s conclusion.

Charting the Future

Despite Rubio’s excitement, launch and reentry may have been the dullest segment of the mission—the crew had more than 200 experiments to fill their time.

“The work is continuous; the work is ongoing,” said Bowen. “Maintaining the space station, like you maintain your house, takes a big chunk of your time. The amount of science we can do now is incredible. Every day we were up there, there’s four of us in the [U.S. Orbital Segment] working.”

Just days after the astronauts’ arrival, they received a cargo vehicle full of materials for experiments. Crewmembers worked throughout the day, sometimes together and sometimes individually, coming together at dinnertime to debrief.

“We are testing hundreds of technologies, and many of them are becoming spinoffs for humanity when utilized here on Earth,” AlNeyadi told FLYING.

For example, astronauts studied how they could grow plants such as tomatoes in harsh and unforgiving environments, either on Earth or in space. They also applied experimental medications to heart cells and printed biological material such as knee cartilage, using technology that could one day print organs for patients on the blue planet.

The crew even ran competitions with university students. Competing teams were able to program a flying robot and control its flight on the space station from Earth.

Perhaps the most consequential research involved a water recycling system, which allowed the astronauts to drink their own urine for the majority of their stay (move over, Bear Grylls). The system may sound outlandish, but it could hold real benefits for humanity.

“Imagine taking the same technology and providing it to people in need in remote areas where they lack water,” said AlNeyadi.

The experiments will also play a key role in NASA’s Artemis program: a series of missions intended to return Americans to the moon for the first time in half a century. According to the crew, learning to live and work in space will be essential for those journeys. Artemis II will send astronauts into lunar orbit in 2025, while Artemis III will attempt to land them on the moon’s surface the following year.

“Knowing that you’re affecting the future of humanity and inspiring future generations, that’s super important to us,” said Rubio.

As important as their work was, the astronauts would not have been able to complete it without finding ways to blow off a little steam.

One method was to simply go outside. Each crew member got the opportunity to complete a spacewalk, including AlNeyadi, who became the first Arab to accomplish the feat.

“Getting in the suit, going outside, and doing important repairs on the station while seeing those views of Earth was just very special,” said Hoburg.

The crew had to get creative at times—Bowen baked pies for Pi Day, and Rubio cut the other astronauts’ hair. But they found plenty of ways to exercise and have fun—and by the end of the mission, they had become a family.

“What a great group of people I had to hang out with for six months,” said Bowen. “It was just incredible.”

A Collective Effort

Crew-6 included the first astronaut of Salvadoran heritage to reach space (Rubio) and the first Arab to complete an extravehicular activity (AlNeyadi). Those feats are symptoms of a broader trend: the globalization of space exploration.

At one point during Expedition 69, there were 11 astronauts aboard the orbital laboratory, which is designed for a maximum of seven. Occupants hailed from the U.S., UAE, Russia, Denmark, and Japan.

“It’s a very intense period when you’re handing over to a new crew, because you’re basically teaching them a whole new lifestyle in a few weeks,” said Rubio.

But the transition was also a welcome development, according to Bowen.

“We actually get a chance to meet a lot of our colleagues around the world before we ever fly,” he said. “So having that crew come on board, I knew every one of them. It was a lot of fun. It’s just great to have new people on board—and it’s another sign you’re going home too.”

AlNeyadi said the UAE already has benefited greatly from its activities in the final frontier. The country’s space agency has only been around for two decades. But in that short time, it has sent a satellite, Martian probe, and the nation’s first astronaut, Hazza Al Mansouri, into space.

“That was an eye opener for everybody. After that, everybody—every young student in the school—wanted to be an astronaut,” said AlNeyadi, who was appointed UAE minister of youth this month.

The Emirati’s own trip has had an impact too. For example, he said it helped catalyze the UAE’s participation in NASA’s Lunar Gateway project, which aims to build a space station orbiting the moon. The country is the fifth to join the partnership.

NASA is also increasingly relying on private industry to help fill certain gaps for Artemis, a contrast to the government-heavy Apollo program. Rubio said he helped certify all SpaceX launch and recovery assets before his mission, a reflection of the agency’s tight relationship with it, Blue Origin, and other commercial partners.

The hope is that greater collaboration can kick off a groundbreaking new era for space travel, one in which humans are continuously occupying the final frontier.

Bowen shared a story about a pair of glasses he found floating aboard the space station, which he mistook for his own. They weren’t Rubio’s or Hoburg’s either, and AlNeyadi didn’t wear glasses. As the crew soon realized, they belonged to an astronaut who had stayed at the orbital lab years ago: a relic of humanity’s persistent effort to uncover the mysteries of space.

Crew-7 astronauts—picking up where Crew-6 left off—splashed down earlier this month, a few days after the Crew-8 team arrived. Perhaps they too will discover the remnants of explorations past. Undoubtedly, they will build on the foundations of previous missions and push humanity forward.

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Shortly before 6 a.m. EDT Tuesday, the crew splashed down in a SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, nearly 19 hours after it autonomously undocked from the ISS. The astronauts were retrieved by the company’s recovery vessels, NASA said.

• READ MORE: NASA Crew-7 Astronauts Arrive at International Space Station

The Crew-7 mission launched August 26 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On board were astronauts from four different countries and three continents: NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos’ Konstantin Borisov.

“After more than six months aboard the International Space Station, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-7 has safely returned home,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. “This international crew showed that space unites us all. It’s clear that we can do more—we can learn more—when we work together. The science experiments conducted during their time in space will help prepare for NASA’s bold missions at the moon, Mars, and beyond, all while benefiting humanity here on Earth.”

• READ MORE: Ax-3 Commercial Astronauts Splash Down after 18 Days Aboard ISS

Following its liftoff, the crew traveled 84,434,094 miles during the mission, spent 197 days aboard the space station, and completed 3,184 orbits of Earth, according to NASA.

Crew-7’s return marks the latest milestone for NASA’s commercial crew program and comes a week after the successful SpaceX launch of three NASA astronauts and a Roscosmos cosmonaut to ISS as a crew rotation.

• READ MORE: NASA SpaceX Crew-8 Mission Successfully Launches After Delays

The Dragon spacecraft, which has supported two other ISS crew rotations, will be returned to Florida for inspection and refurbishment at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to ready it for its next flight, NASA said.

Splashdown of Dragon confirmed – welcome back to Earth, @AstroJaws, @Astro_Andreas, @Astro_Satoshi, and Kostya! pic.twitter.com/iugZ6Awwvn

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 12, 2024

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The 10 astronauts had been selected as candidates for the training program from a highly competitive pool of about 12,000 applicants in 2021, NASA said. Their training included more than two years of basic training that entailed robotics, space station systems, and spacewalking.

The graduation milestone now means they may be assigned to future missions on the International Space Station or commercial space stations, as well as NASA’s Artemis moon mission campaign.

• READ MORE: Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Martian?

NASA identified the graduating astronauts as Nichole Ayers of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Marcos Berríos of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico; Chris Birch of Gilbert, Arizona; Deniz Bunham of Wasilla, Alaska; Luke Delaney of DeBary, Florida; Andre Douglas of Chesapeake, Virginia; Jack Hathaway of South Windsor, Connecticut; Anil Menon of Minneapolis; Chris Williams of Potomac, Maryland; and Jessica Wittner of Clovis, California.

United Arab Emirates astronauts Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammad Al Mulla of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dabai also trained alongside the class as part of a long-standing international partnership.

• READ MORE: NASA Delays First Crewed U.S. Moon Landing in Half a Century to 2026

Help Wanted: Astronauts

NASA commenced its search for the next round of astronaut candidates Tuesday. Duties for the position include conducting research experiments, performing spacecraft maintenance, and serving as a public face for the space agency. Frequent travel also is required.

• READ MORE: ‘Odysseus’ Transmits First Lunar Landing Images

“Upon completing training, they will join the active astronaut corps and become eligible for spaceflight assignment,” NASA said in a statement. “Until assigned a spaceflight, they will have responsibilities within the astronaut office, ranging from supporting their fellow astronauts in space to advising on the development of new spacecraft.”

More information on the astronaut candidate program may be found here. The deadline for applying is April 2.

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The mission, dubbed Crew-8, lifted off  from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:53 p.m. EST, marking NASA’s eighth commercial ISS crew rotation.

The launch had initially been planned for Friday but was delayed twice due to high winds along the spacecraft’s ascent path.

Standing down from tonight’s launch of Crew-8 due to elevated winds in Dragon’s ascent corridor. Now targeting Sunday, March 3 for liftoff

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 3, 2024

On board the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft were NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin. 

• READ MORE: NASA SpaceX Crew-8 Mission Launch Date Set

“On this eighth crew rotation mission, we are once again showing the strength of our commercial partnerships and American ingenuity that will propel us further in the cosmos,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Monday. “Aboard the station, the crew will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations to help fuel this new era of space exploration and benefit humanity here on Earth,” 

The crew is scheduled to arrive at ISS on Tuesday around 3 a.m. EST, when the spacecraft will autonomously dock with the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module.

• READ MORE: SpaceX Launch Sends 4 Private Astronauts to ISS

Once Crew-8 arrives, it will overlap with the existing ISS astronauts, Crew-7, until they depart to return to Earth a few days later, NASA said.

NASA is providing live coverage of the Crew-8 mission docking event and hatch opening starting at 3 a.m. EST. It may be viewed here.

Liftoff of Crew-8! pic.twitter.com/wqTFNNDGR9

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 4, 2024

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On board the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft will be NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.

Crew-8 represents the eighth ISS crew rotation mission and ninth human spaceflight mission to the space outpost since 2020 that has been supported by a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

• READ MORE: First Space Force Guardian Heading to ISS Orbital Outpost

“During their time on the orbiting laboratory, the crew will conduct over 200 scientific experiments and technology demonstrations, including new research to prepare human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and benefit humanity on Earth,” SpaceX said in a statement.

The launch is targeted for 12:04 a.m. EST Friday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said. According to SpaceX, a backup launch opportunity is scheduled for the same day at 11:41 p.m.

• READ MORE: Ax-3 Commercial Astronauts Splash Down after 18 Days Aboard ISS

Following the stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will land at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, SpaceX said.

NASA projects the crew will dock with the ISS around 7 a.m. Saturday.

• READ MORE: SpaceX’s Starship Selected to Launch Starlab Space Station

How to Watch

The Crew-8 mission launch, as well as docking, may be viewed via livestream on a number of platforms. Leading up to the launch, NASA will begin its coverage at 8 p.m. Thursday on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency website. 

SpaceX will also begin its coverage about an hour before launch on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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At a U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology subcommittee hearing on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., lawmakers were warned about there being no clear path toward ensuring that NASA’s aging International Space Station (ISS) can be deorbited after 2030—its designated end-of-life year.

That’s due in part to a lack of funding, including those needed to purchase a spacecraft known as the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle (USDV) that will perform the final deorbit maneuver of the ISS.

“We are standing at the precipice of achieving one of the most audacious goals humanity has dared to reach for since we built the International Space Station—fulfilling the vision of humans living and working in space in an ecosystem of economic expansion, marking the best of American industry and innovation,” Mary Lynne Dittmar, chief government and external relations officer for commercial space station developer Axiom Space, said during her subcommittee testimony.

However, Dittmar said, without clear direction and funding from Congress, the continuity of Americas’ LEO presence is in danger.

“The likelihood of a gap in LEO following the decommissioning of the ISS has never been greater,” Dittmar said. “The consequences of such a gap cannot be overstated. It will result in ceding our role and position as a leader to China, a role that—once lost—we may never get back.”

Dylan Taylor, chairman and CEO of Voyager Space, a competing developer, pointed out that a funding increase authorized by Congress will “bolster investor confidence and accelerate early investment” by private companies.

“Early investment helps address design challenges sooner, fosters a customer base, and avoids costly late development changes,” Taylor said. “Lack of investment in 2024 and 2025 would jeopardize schedules for all providers and increase the risk of a gap in U.S. human presences [in LEO].”

Deorbiting ISS

Responsibility for the controlled deorbiting of the ISS back to Earth—ensuring that it avoids populated areas—is shared among the five space agencies that have operated the station since 1998: NASA, Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Russia’s Roscosmos.

The Joe Biden administration has included requests for both the deorbit vehicle and recovery efforts coordinated by a ground station located on Guam in an emergency supplemental appropriations request.

“NASA continues to believe that funding for both of these is a pressing requirement,” said Ken Bowersox, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations.

Bowersox said his agency will continue scientific research and technology work in LEO by transitioning to services provided by one or more commercial space stations.

“It is NASA’s goal to be one of many customers in a robust commercial marketplace,” Bowersox said. “In order to maintain an uninterrupted human presence in LEO, NASA is striving to have at least one operational [commercial space station] in orbit before ISS is ended.”

Customer Outlook

While NASA plans to be an “anchor tenant” once the transition to commercial stations occurs, that won’t be enough to sustain it financially. An approach to developing a commercial market has come through the private astronaut missions over the last several years that have included those from other countries, according to Dittmar.

“As those missions have progressed, they’ve revealed the interest of international entities to participate in human space flight,” said Dittmar, who named Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Sweden as examples. “Other countries are very interested in our commercial platforms, including interest in doing science research, technology development, as well as flying humans into space.”

Said Taylor: “A lot of the biopharma companies would like to do drug development on the ISS, so I see this as a huge opportunity to accelerate their plans. There’s a huge appetite for international space commerce.”

Regulatory Hurdles

But Dittmar and Taylor, along with Republican lawmakers at the subcommittee hearing, expressed concern about another potential obstacle in the transition to a commercial LEO regime—regulations recently proposed by the Biden administration.

The White House unveiled in November a proposed mission authorization system for regulating and overseeing commercial space activities. The 24-page draft document divided oversight between the Department of Transportation and the Department of Commerce.

Such bifurcated authority, Dittmar asserted, would likely serve to slow down commercial space development.

“We feel there is a great deal of room for communication difficulty between the agencies,” she said. “There is an interagency process that is called for by the proposal that would require collaboration and discussion, [so] we’re concerned about the delays that might be imposed by that. Regulatory frameworks need to be streamlined as much as possible.”

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The Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) crew initially launched aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 18. On Wednesday, the spacecraft undocked from the ISS and then splashed down off the coast of Daytona Beach, Florida, around 8:30 a.m. EST Friday.

The mission marked the space company’s third crewed mission to the ISS and the first commercial spaceflight of government and European Space Agency-sponsored national astronauts.

The Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) crewmembers— commander Michael López-Alegría of the U.S. and Spain, pilot Walter Villadei of Italy, mission specialists Alper Gezeravci of Turkey and European Space Agency  project astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden—float in microgravity during their mission to the International Space Station with Axiom Space. [Courtesy: Axiom Space]

• READ MORE: First All-European Commercial Astronaut Crew Begins Research at Space Station

While aboard the space outpost, the Ax-3 crew conducted more than 30 experiments, including microgravity research, along with more than 50 educational outreach engagements. The mission also marked a milestone toward Axiom Station—a commercial space station currently under construction that will operate in low-Earth orbit. The target launch for the private space station is 2026, according to the company.

“The successful return of our Ax-3 astronauts signifies more than just the completion of a human spaceflight mission,” Axiom Space CEO Michael Suffredini said. “It marks a pivotal moment in commercial space exploration and a significant milestone for Europe’s pursuits in low-Earth orbit.” 

• READ MORE: SpaceX’s Starship Selected to Launch Starlab Space Station

Axiom Space said it plans to launch its fourth mission to the ISS, dubbed Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), no earlier than October from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The post Ax-3 Commercial Astronauts Splash Down after 18 Days Aboard ISS appeared first on FLYING Magazine.