SpaceX Tourists Will Make Attempt at Spacewalk During Flight

[Zorro]

Jared Isaacman, who flew in the company’s capsule last year, is chartering a repeat voyage that will expose the space-suited crew to space.

Space tourists have flown to the International Space Station, and even orbited Earth in their own space capsule for three days. Now, a group of private astronauts wants to attempt a spacewalk, one of the most dangerous things people flying in space have ever done.

As soon as the end of this year, four private astronauts, including Jared Isaacman, the billionaire who chartered SpaceX’s first space tourist mission last year, could launch to space aboard the company’s Crew Dragon capsule. At some point during their five days circling Earth, at least one of the crew members will exit the spacecraft for what would be the first spacewalk conducted by a nongovernment astronaut.

Spacewalking “is the riskiest thing that we do as astronauts,” said Sandra Magnus, a retired NASA astronaut who operated the space station’s robotic arm in 2002 while other astronauts completed extravehicular activities, NASA’s term for spacewalks. Referring to the astronauts’ bulky protective spacesuits, she said, “You’re in a one-person spaceship, attached by a wire to the outside of your vehicle.”

The mission is to be the first in a program called Polaris, announced on Monday by SpaceX and Mr. Isaacman. The main goals of Polaris are to “demonstrate new technologies” and to “conduct extensive research,” according to a news release for the mission. Mr. Isaacman will also work with SpaceX on two future Polaris missions: a second in the coming years aboard Crew Dragon, which NASA relies on to transport its astronauts to the space station, and another which would use Starship, the gigantic next-generation rocket system that SpaceX is developing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/14/science/spacex-spacewalk-tourists.html

Uhhhh...nope. No way. Nada. Nuh uhhh. Nein. No sirreee...

[2naSalit]

1. Gee, what could go wrong?

[Dial H For Hero]

2. It would be quite the E ticket ride!

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

3. Who wants to die in space? I do! I do! I do!

So, a millionaire tourist wants to become a guinea pig for Elon Musk's personal space company. What could possibly go wrong?

[Zorro]

4. Well, Elon wants to be the first person to travel to Mars

That's supposedly his big motivation for building his Mars Starship.

That, and nobody hates him there. Yet.

[Historic NY]

5. That wouldn't be prudent!!