Polaris Dawn, a personal house mission has set a brand new report for the best orbit reached by people since NASA’s Apollo programme. On tenth September 2024, the four-member Polaris Dawn crew aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft Resilience achieved an apogee of 1,400.7 kilometres. This surpasses the 1966 Gemini 11 mission’s altitude of 1,373 kilometres, marking the furthest distance travelled by people because the final lunar touchdown over 50 years in the past. After taking off from Florida at 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT), the spacecraft orbited Earth eight occasions earlier than reaching its highest level.
A Historic Feat
The crew, led by billionaire and Polaris Dawn mission commander Jared Isaacman, consists of pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX workers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. Isaacman highlighted that Gillis and Menon have now set a record as the ladies who’ve travelled the furthest from Earth. The crew’s mission aimed to collect information on the results of house situations on human well being and spacecraft programs, venturing by means of sections of the Van Allen radiation belt, an space the place charged particles accumulate.
Scientific Purpose
The altitude report was set to assist SpaceX additional its analysis in preparation for future deep house missions. By exposing the Resilience spacecraft to totally different ranges of radiation, scientists goal to higher perceive the impacts on each the human physique and trendy spacecraft expertise.
The mission additionally assessments how touchscreens and digital shows carry out below such situations, which has by no means been performed earlier than at this altitude.
Honouring Past Achievements
As a tribute to NASA’s Gemini 11 astronauts, Charles “Pete” Conrad and Richard “Dick” Gordon, the Polaris Dawn crew carried a medallion much like the Gemini 11 patch. The medallion was auctioned to help St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, persevering with the legacy of house exploration for the higher good.
