SpaceX\u2019s Polaris Dawn mission, in which billionaire Jared Isaacman and three other crew members traveled to space in a Crew Dragon, has made headlines for including the first-ever private spacewalk<\/a>. While the flight has been hailed as historic for that reason, Isaaman has said that the trip is not merely for fun but is making contributions to science as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The research in the Polaris program, planned to be three flights, is particularly focused on human health and the effects of spaceflight on the body<\/a>. The current mission will be studied by Baylor College of Medicine, with the astronauts giving blood and going through extensive biomedical testing both before and after the flight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But what sets the Polaris Dawn mission apart is its altitude, 870 miles above the Earth\u2019s surface to be exact. That\u2019s far higher than the typical altitude of the International Space Station, at around 250 miles, and makes Polaris Dawn the farthest humans have been from Earth since the Apollo missions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The effects of spaceflight on the body<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That altitude took the craft through Earth\u2019s inner Van Allen belt<\/a>, a region of charged particles that protect the planet from dangerous radiation<\/a>. The crew members are fitted with sensors to measure their cumulative radiation exposure over the mission, and the spacecraft interior is fitted with a sensor to detect the different types of radiation in the environment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to see what kind of [radiation] exposure that we get as they get further and further away from the surface of the Earth,\u201d explained Baylor\u2019s Translational Research Institute for Space Health deputy director Jimmy Wu. \u201cThat\u2019s something that we don\u2019t have a whole lot of data on, because we\u2019ve been limited to the number of humans that have been that far. So that\u2019s critically important to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n From a health researcher\u2019s point of view, more data is always welcome, whether it\u2019s from a space agency mission or a private one. Though the Polaris Dawn mission is much shorter than a typical astronaut rotation on the International Space Station, at five days rather than six months or more, that still provides an opportunity for a different type of research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you want to look into the long-term effects of spaceflight on health, such as loss of muscle and bone mass, then you need a longer-duration mission. But with certain effects of spaceflight, the body adjusts to a baseline within a few days or a few hours, and these are ideal research topics for short missions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Astronauts can experience space motion sickness when they enter or leave a microgravity environment, and it\u2019s not yet known why some people suffer from this more than others, especially in the first few days of spaceflight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to see what kind of [radiation] exposure that we get as they get further and further away from the surface of the Earth\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n While being space sick seems like more of an annoyance than a major problem, Wu points out that being impaired immediately following a launch or landing event could be a big issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYou go to the Moon. There\u2019s no welcoming committee to take care of you when you land,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat would happen if there was some sort of mishap during landing, and you had to get out? Are you going to be able to functionally do that if you\u2019ve lost your orientation and sense of up and down?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Another key area of health research is the relationship between different factors in spaceflight and how they affect each other. It\u2019s not just about understanding the effects of either microgravity or radiation exposure or isolation and confinement \u2014 it\u2019s about understanding the cumulative stresses on the body that going to space entails.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While proponents of space tourism argue that it is increasing access to space, even democratizing space access, that can be hard to swallow when the only people going to space are billionaires like Isaacman and their friends.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n However, it\u2019s also true that the astronauts who currently fly on space agency missions are not representative of the general public. Some of that is necessary \u2014 it\u2019s only sensible to select astronauts who are healthy enough to withstand the physical challenges of spaceflight \u2014 and some of it is a legacy of racism<\/a>, sexism<\/a>, and who is perceived to be worthy of becoming an astronaut.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nShort and sweet<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n
The breadth of humanity<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n