Read previewSpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew successfully returned to Earth on Sunday, bringing Elon Musk one step closer to his dream of settling Mars.
They donned new SpaceX spacesuits that had never been tested in orbit, opened their ship to the vacuum of space, and conducted the first-ever commercial spacewalk.
On top of that, they exposed themselves to high levels of space radiation, much higher than what astronauts aboard the International Space Station undergo in the same time period.
People traveling to Mars would be exposed to immense amounts of space radiation for months.
So the Crew Dragon spacecraft flew through two donuts of intense radiation surrounding Earth, called the Van Allen belts.
Persons:
—, Elon Musk, Jared Isaacman, Jude Children's, Mars, Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Anna Menon, Sarah Gillis, Gillis, Polaris Dawn, Van Allen, Mars Polaris Dawn, they'd, 🎶S
Organizations:
Service, Dawn, Elon, Apollo, Business, SpaceX, St, Jude Children's Research, Polaris, US Air Force, Communications, Mars Polaris
Locations:
Hawthorne , California, South Texas, Gulf of Mexico, Florida's, Mars