[ad_1]
No astronauts have ever died during the spacewalk. But a clogged filter in 2013 Water to get into Luca Parmitano’s helmetAn Italian astronaut for the European Space Agency during a trip outside the station.
The procedure for a spacewalk during Mr. Isaacman’s proposed mission will differ from that of the space station. Unlike the orbiting outpost, the capsule does not have an airlock. Instead, Crew Dragon’s entire cabin will be depressurized prior to the spacewalk, similar to the first American spacewalks during the 1960s during Apollo NASA’s manned spaceflight program, Gemini.
“This will be no different for Dragon,” said Mr. Isaacman, “except as we take advantage of over 50 years of progress and technology.”
Ms. Menon said at least one of the astronauts would participate in the spacewalk, but did not say who. Because their capsules lack a protective atmosphere, all four would have to wear new SpaceX spacesuits currently in development to protect themselves from the near vacuum during the event. There have been no accidents during SpaceX’s astronaut missions that required a live fire test of special flight suits designed to protect a person in space for several hours in an emergency.
“There’s a great team of great engineers working on the spacesuit and it will be really exciting to work with as their designs come out,” said Mr. Isaacman.
Adding a spacewalk capability for civil society astronauts underscores the enormous degree of risk and freedom private space companies can assume in an industry where there are no safety regulations when a vehicle carrying private astronauts reaches space.
While the Federal Aviation Administration manages launch site security, no agency on Earth oversees the security of private ventures such as SpaceX’s spacewalk plans. In 2004, Congress passed a moratorium on spaceflight regulations, which was last extended until 2023. Stopping safety rules, which lawmakers aim to allow the nascent space industry to innovate, requires space tourists to sign “informed consent” forms. awareness of risks.
Dr. “We want the commercial industry to be successful,” Magnus said. “But there is still this gap in the US surveillance role, and where do we address it? How far will we go before this gets better?”
[ad_2]
Source link