SpaceX CEO Elon Musk today shared a stunning high-definition video of the Polaris space mission in orbit around Earth. Sharing highlights of the video, Mr Musk said, “It looks like CGI (computer-generated imagery), but it’s real”.
According to the mission’s official website, the Polaris space program is “a first-of-its-kind effort to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities while raising funds and awareness for important causes on Earth.”
The Polaris space program consists of three manned spaceflight missions that will demonstrate new technologies, conduct extensive research and ultimately culminate in the first flight of SpaceX’s Starship with humans.
Here is video highlights of the Polaris mission shared by SpaceX and Elon Musk:
Looks like CGI, but these are all real video highlights @PolarisProgram space mission
pic.twitter.com/CLCzhJndF5– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 27 September 2024
Mission I – Polaris Dawn
The first of the three missions has already taken place, while the other two will follow “soon”, the mission website says ‘Mission I’ – named Polaris Dawn – lifted a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the launchpad to the low-Earth Has been sent to the class. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The spacecraft was launched earlier this month – on September 10. The crew onboard completed all four mission objectives before returning to Earth on 15 September.
Objective
The Polaris Dawn mission tested the maximum performance of the Falcon 9 and Dragon, flying higher than any Dragon mission to date, reaching the highest Earth orbit ever flown with an altitude of 1,408.1 kilometers above Earth. Has reached. Orbiting over parts of the Van Allen radiation belts, the Polaris Dawn crew conducted research aimed at better understanding the effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health.
spacewalk
At an altitude of approximately 190 to 740 kilometers above Earth, the crew completed the first commercial spacewalk. It was performed in a SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity or EVA spacesuit, upgraded from the current intravehicular or EVA suit.
future missions
‘Mission II’, yet to be named, will build on the first mission and continue to achieve excellence in the areas of space communications while carrying out other research work.
The third mission – ‘Mission III’, as yet unnamed, will be the first manned spaceflight on SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s first reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit. Is designed. Its goal is to fly to the Moon and Mars, and someday go beyond that.
According to the mission website, the program is named after Polaris, a cluster of three stars commonly known as the North Star, which has been a guiding light throughout human history that helps us navigate the world. Helps navigate and inspire progress.
