Something Weird Is Happening With SpaceX Polaris Dawn Unlike Starliner! Musk Reacts...

0:22: Intro all right so what we've been waiting for since the beginning of the year has finally happened spacex's first private space walk was right in front of us this is going to be a historic event as it has never happened before what weird things are going to happen and how did Elon actually react let's find out this and more on today's episode of alphatek 2:54: Altitude so Polaris Dawn is the first mission in a plan series of three under Jared ISAC man's Polaris program this Mission actually marks the third flight of spacex's crew Dragon resilience which previously undertook the crew one and inspirational four missions the latter being the first fully private commercial space mission which was also funded and led by this billionaire after being delayed for nearly two weeks due to bad weather the Polaris Dawn mission was launched early on September 10th as expected SpaceX crew operations were efficient and the crew including Scott isaacman Scott kid petite Anna Menan and Sarah Gillis were put inside Dragon spacecraft before waiting through a bunch of different weather related delays following the launch Falcon 9 and dragon performed flawlessly and the crew can now get to work in orbit achievement unlocked SpaceX posted on X afterwards on the first day Polaris Don crew led by Jared isaacman had their first meal in space they slept and then started their respiratory treatment before The Space Walk the first day was pretty calm but their work is going to get more challenging in the coming days using dragon's forward thrusters SpaceX elevated the spacecraft to a record altitude for any crude space flight not involving the moon 1,400 km the last time humans were at such a height around Earth was in the Apollo 17 days excluding the Apollo program Gemini 11 set the previous altitude record at 1368 kilm using the agenna target vehicle's propulsion system to get to that height this is such a big deal that Elon pinned an inspirational post on his X page strive to Greater Heights for a future brighter than the past waking up each morning inspired to learn new secrets of the universe furthermore the Polaris Mission also marks the furthest Journey Humanity's ever taken and the furthest into space that a woman has ever gone the Polaris program astronaut mission is headed for an altitude three times higher than of the space station the furthest that humans have been from Earth in over a half a century tweeted Elon on X then SpaceX informed the crew of their new altitude Milestone and isaacman responded we all look forward to our friends at the Artemis program taking us to even greater Heights this is what set the Polaris program apart from other commercial space missions Polaris is pushing SpaceX to achieve as much as NASA or even surpass its own goals for space flight while some might see Polaris as the extravagant expense of some tech billionaire it's established as a private space program with its own goals and missions for exploring space alongside the altitude 5:59: Spacewalk & Elon Musk record the spacecraft then descended to around 700 km to prepare for the main mission which was more awesome than ever the actual Space Walk on September 12th the crew officially accomplished this first it was isaacman followed by Gillis the only two crew members to actually step outside the spacecraft and they did so for a total time of 20 minutes although they took turns exiting Dragon the astronauts remaining inside the spacecraft were still exposed to the vacuum of space as Dragon does not have an airlock meaning the entire cabin was deep pressurized during this phase the astronauts exit Dragon using a Skywalker system similar to a scaffolding rig extended just above the hatch to provide stability Although our two astronauts did not experience free floating in space in the true sense having them directly face into space and action was considered a space walk and was sufficient enough to test the suits that they were wearing their SpaceX design pressure suits are not equipped with independent oxygen or other life support systems instead it relies on a 12-ft umbilical cord to provide air power and communication as Isaac man and Gillis stood just outside the hatch they tested the comfort and mobility of the pressure suits known as extra vehicular activity or Eva suits by moving their arms hands and legs through a bunch of different positions to determine the effort required to perform basic tasks Elon immediately congratulated the dragon team and the Polaris astronaut crew sharing an amazing SpaceX video showing isaacman making this historic Milestone Bill Nelson also congratulated SpaceX congratulations Polaris program SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history today's success represents a giant Le forward in the commercial space industry and NASA's long-term gold to build a vibrant us space economy cameras mounted inside and outside the crew Dragon along with others attached to the space walker suits provided spectacular views of space and earth below as the ship sailed through an elliptical orbit with a low point of 121 miles and a high point of 458 Mi 200 Mi higher than the ISS beforehand crew Dragon space CRA took the crew through an extended pre-breathing process to prep their bodies for the spacewalk this process works by gradually purging nitrogen from the crew member's blood to prevent gas bubbles from forming in their blood as the pressure inside the spacecraft changes the pre-breathing process is designed to prevent decompression sickness a very dangerous and potentially fatal condition that divers can experience if they try to surface too quickly the pre-breathing protocol that the Polaris Doner is undergoing is entirely different than what's done on the is says the space station has special airlock Chambers where astronauts can go through a quicker pre-breathing process before starting a spacewalk that one only takes a few hours however Gillis mentioned that the Polaris Dawn Cruz pre-breathing procedures takes about 45 hours as the oxygen levels in the cabin gradually increase while the pressure slowly decreases the biggest challenge comes after The Space Walk closing the hatch on the crew dragon's capsule and then getting the cabin back to normal pressure and then safely returning to Earth equally important is Jared 7:25: EVA suits isaacman initiative which has accelerated the development of space suits for spacex's future missions this is version 1.0 of the suit that could one day be used by hundreds or even thousands of astronauts while walking the surface of the Moon or Mars building a base on the moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of space suits the development of this suit and the Eva performed on this Mission will be important steps towards scalable design for space suits on future long duration missions SpaceX tweeted these suits have been improved from spacex's standard launch and entry suits with changes including the addition of a new thermal regulation layer to help control temperature displays showing pressure temperature and humidity data and the use of new materials and semi- rigid joints to improve Mobility the first flight for the new suits will help determine whether they're truly suitable for future missions the smart Engineers over at SpaceX built an Eva suit in less than a year adds isaacman niasa has been working on this for quite some time and the cost usually goes into the billions I can sure you that SpaceX and Polaris are not investing anything close to that the cost savings do matter NASA's budget request for its emis lunar program is only $7.8 billion for fy2 that's compared to the just shy of 29 billion inflation adjusted cost of the Apollo program back in 1966 saving on suits could be a big deal breaker when Pockets aren't nearly as deep as they were three generations ago but Piston's also a 10:00: Science mission science Mission it's carrying 36 different exper experience from 31 institutions including a number that'll gather data for NASA's human research program the agency partners with SpaceX on cargo and crew missions to the ISS but poon's not one of these flights and it's flying solo around the earth not meeting up with the ISS NASA Affiliated experiments are designed to help agency scientists better understand space flight's impacts on the human body information that should a future crude exploration efforts down the road each Mission whether the cruise comprised the commercial or NASA astronauts provides a key opportunity to expand our knowledge about how space flight affects human health jany mcfe associate Chief scientist for human research at Nasa said in a statement information gathered from Polaris Donal give us critical insights to help NASA plan for a deeper space travel to the Moon and Mars for example the Polaris Don crew will test drive a commercial device that can collect and integrate measurements of Health including blood pressure heart rate respiration rate and temperature according to the NASA statement that device also captures ultrasound imagery and sports an experimental tele medicine feature that could help diagnose astronaut health issues in near real time crew members will need to be more self-reliant during lengthy missions and we hope that tele medicine can provide Crews with assistance jansy MC associate Chief scientist for human research at Nasa said another Polaris Dawn project seeks to highlight and mitigate the motion sickness problems that can afflict astronauts another will survey crew members about their experiences during re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere with the aim of making that is smooth and issue for as possible in addition polaron astronauts will participate in a variety of studies organized by the translational Research Institute for health a NASA funded Consortium of academic institutions Polaris Dawn crew members participating in these Trish studies will provide data about how space flight affects mental and physical health through a rigorous set of medical tests and scans completed before after and during the mission the NASA statement reads the work will include assessments of behavior sleep bone density Eye Health cognitive function and other factors as well as analysis of blood urine and respiration and that's all for today's episode best of luck to our pois Don crew and thank you again for checking out the show hope to see you back here next time bye