Get the latest tech news

SpaceX is about to send four people on a wild — and risky — mission into the radiation belts. Here’s what to know

The Polaris Dawn mission will carry four crew members on a risky journey into the radiation belt, and they’ll attempt the first spacewalk carried out by private citizens.

It’s akin to what scuba divers do to avoid decompression sickness, otherwise known as “the bends.” The crewmates must purge nitrogen from their blood so that when the Dragon capsule is depressurized and exposed to the vacuum of space, the gas doesn’t form bubbles in their bloodstream — a potentially lethal condition. SpaceX teams tried to mitigate risks and prepare for every potential challenge through a barrage of tests, some as simple as putting a handrail into a freezing chamber — set to negative 90 degrees Celsius — to see how cold to the touch a ladder might be when exposed to space, Isaacman said. Isaacman said his inspiration to pursue bold feats in space partly stems from SpaceX’s founding mission: To make humans a multiplanetary species, as CEO Elon Musk puts it, paving the way for a future in which people live and work on Mars or other foreign planets.

Get the Android app