On September 10, SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission took off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. On board the Crew Dragon capsule, four novices, space tourists of a new kind. Among them, billionaire Jared Isaacman, who financed the entire operation out of his own pocket.
After a first flight with Inspiration4, the future boss of NASA wanted to do it again, with an even riskier mission. The apotheosis of Polaris Dawn was to take place a few days after takeoff, with an EVA, an exit into the vacuum of space. In addition to Isaacman, Sarah Gillis, a SpaceX engineer and member of this mission, enjoyed a few minutes floating in space.
A blackout at H-1
But not everything went as planned during these 5 days in space. In a new report on the flight, the Reuters news agency reveals that the 4 astronauts on board were cut off from the world for almost an hour. A “blackout” which would be due to a power outage in the SpaceX control center.
According to an anonymous source, the engineers took many minutes before regaining remote control of the device. Although the 4 apprentice astronauts on board have been trained to deal with this type of extreme situation, they are not professionals, and therefore cannot react as such.
NASA quickly notified
If this cut in communications between the ship and Earth remained without consequences for this Polaris Dawn mission, completed on September 15, it nevertheless raises questions for the future. NASA, which uses this same Crew Dragon capsule to send its astronauts to the ISS, was quickly informed of the problem and does not appear to have reacted in any way.
The American space agency has trusted SpaceX for years for various missions. Transporting astronauts to the ISS is one of the company’s biggest contracts and in the absence of a real competitor, SpaceX does not have much to worry about.
In November, a security group affiliated with NASA nevertheless issued an alert to SpaceX executives. The confidential report specifies that the private company must keep “the safety of its crews” as an absolute priority, ahead of economic profitability and the desire to always go faster, higher and further.
NASA paid the high price for this overly aggressive policy. In the space world, the slightest error, the slightest economy can have disastrous consequences. This is notably what happened in 1984 with the Challenger shuttle accident, caused by a defective seal which only cost a few dollars to replace. Warnings were issued at the time, notably by subcontractors, but NASA ignored them.
