SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn takes humans to the farthest distance from Earth since Apollo 11 | Technology News
After overcoming technical complications and weather challenges, SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn has successfully taken four humans to the farthest distance from Earth since Nasa’s historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Using the Falcon 9 rocket, the crew reached low-Earth orbit, travelling 1,400 km away from Earth.
Elon Musk congratulated SpaceX with a post on X with a short poem:
“Strive to greater heights,
For a future brighter than the past,
Waking up each morning inspired,
To learn new secrets of the Universe!”
Polaris Dawn and Dragon at 1,400 km above Earth – the farthest humans have traveled since the Apollo program over 50 years ago pic.twitter.com/rRDeD1dY1e
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 11, 2024
This multi-day mission includes a spacewalk scheduled on Thursday, September 12 (Flight Day 3). The Polaris Dawn crew––Jared Isaacman, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis, and Anna Menon––now part of the first all-private spacewalk mission, will wear SpaceX extravehicular activity suits.
According to Jancy McPhee, associate chief scientist for human research at Nasa, “Each mission, whether the crew is comprised of commercial or Nasa astronauts, provides a key opportunity to expand our knowledge about how spaceflight affects human health. Information gathered from Polaris Dawn will give us critical insights to help NASA plan for deeper space travel to the Moon and Mars.”
As a part of Nasa’s Human Research Programme, astronauts will test drive a device that collects various health-centric data such as blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, and temperature, which will then be used to understand the effect of space conditions on the human body.
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