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I had thought the Polaris Dawn mission did this a few months ago, but apparently that was ineptly named.
by lupusreal 2y ago
I had thought the Polaris Dawn mission did this a few months ago, but apparently that was ineptly named.
- wolf550e 2y agoInspiration4 was the first private civilian mission on SpaceX Crew Dragon. Polaris Dawn was a test flight of SpaceX's in-development extravehicular activity space suit, tethered to the spacecraft (so not like NASA EMU) but in vacuum. Fram2 was the first crewed mission in polar orbit, with good view of the North and South poles. Other crewed missions were in less inclined orbits, usually the same inclination as the ISS or as Cape Canaveral.
- lupusreal 2y agoSlight correction, NASA's EMUs don't use life support umbilicals, but astronauts are meant to always be tethered (safety strap, not life support) while using them. They have SAFER thruster packs as a backup should anybody ever become untethered, but the utility of these is dubious. NASA has done deliberate totally untethered EVAs before, but AFAIK not since the 1980s, as the MMU (SAFER's larger predecessor) was retired after Challenger. The SpaceX suits used so far do have life support umbilicals.
- TMWNN 2y agoChun Wang said that his first choice for the name of his flight would have been Polaris had Jared Isaacman not already used it.