Polaris Dawn-SpaceX mission: Crew safety paramount, says Musk

New Delhi: Crew safety is paramount, said Elon Musk on Monday, a day ahead of the launch of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn spacecraft to low-Earth orbit.

The four-member mission, expected to conduct the first-ever 'all-civilian' spacewalk, will lift off onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 on Tuesday at 3:38 a.m. ET (1:08 pm IST) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida

The first commercial spaceflight mission with a spacewalk will drive billionaire Jared Isaacman, along with three others on a free-flying mission.

It is expected to fly higher than any crewed mission since the Apollo Programme ended in the 1970s, “endeavouring to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown”.

“The Polaris Programme mission readiness review just finished and we are currently go for launch in just over 24 hours,” said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, in a post on X.com.

“Crew safety is absolutely paramount and this mission carries more risk than usual, as it will be the furthest humans have travelled from Earth since Apollo and the first commercial spacewalk!” he added.

It is the first mission under "Polaris Programme” by Isaacman -- the founder of Shift4, an online payment processing company.

Isaacman was also the commander of the first "all-civilian" space mission Inspiration4, launched in 2021. He purchased three spaceflights with SpaceX, and named the series "Polaris Programme".

SpaceX informed that “Polaris Dawn and SpaceX completed a full rehearsal of launch”. It added that the Falcon 9 also completed its “static fire test” ahead of the big launch.

“If any concerns arise, the launch will be postponed until those concerns are addressed,” Musk said.

Besides Isaacman, the crew includes pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet, a retired lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force who served as the mission director for Inspiration4, mission specialist Sarah Gillis, who oversees SpaceX's astronaut training programme, and medical officer Anna Menon, who manages the development of SpaceX's crew operations while also serving the company's mission control.

The crew will perform the first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA) by commercial astronauts, wearing EVA suits developed by SpaceX.

They are also expected to perform 36 research studies and experiments from 31 partner institutions designed to advance both human health on Earth and during long-duration spaceflight, and test Starlink laser-based communications in space.

Meanwhile, Musk noted that SpaceX will launch rockets/spacecraft every second day. The company will also deliver more than “90 per cent payloads” to space in 2024.

“SpaceX is doing a major launch every about 3 days now. Next year, a launch every about 2 days,” Musk said.

“We will probably deliver close to 90 per cent of payload mass to Earth orbit and beyond this year. Great work by a great team!” he added.