Axiom received a nearly $230 million task order to develop the AxEMU suit, which Artemis astronauts will test out on the lunar surface. The task order is part of a contract with NASA worth up to $3.5 billion that also includes Collins Aerospace, which earlier this year abandoned efforts to develop extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits under its own $100 million task order.

NASA’s current EVA suits are more than four decades old, and recent malfunctions have forced the space agency to postpone several spacewalks.

“We have broken the mold,” said Matt Ondler, president of Axiom Space. “The Axiom Space-Prada partnership has set a new foundational model for cross-industry collaboration, further expanding what’s possible in commercial space.”

Artemis III will land a crew at the lunar south pole, so Axiom’s suit is designed to withstand extreme temperatures in regions devoid of sunlight. Its portable life support system will keep astronauts safe on spacewalks for up to eight hours, the company says.

Axiom says its design is more flexible, efficient, and safe than NASA’s existing suits. The AxEMU boots, for example, are built to withstand rough terrain and the freezing cold, while the helmet and visor covering are designed to improve astronauts’ vision of their surroundings. The suit can accommodate crew of nearly all body types.

Several AxEMU systems are redundant, including an onboard diagnostic system that tracks the wearer’s vital signs. Astronauts can control its temperature using a carbon dioxide scrubber and cooling system. A 4G/LTE communications system allows them to keep in touch with the rest of the crew during excursions.

The outer suit material, which was designed in partnership with Prada, will reflect heat and protect against small projectiles like dust.

“I’m very proud of the result we’re showing today, which is just the first step in a long-term collaboration with Axiom Space,” said Lorenzo Bertelli, chief marketing officer and head of corporate social responsibility for Prada Group. “We’ve shared our expertise on high-performance materials, features, and sewing techniques, and we learned a lot.”

According to Axiom, the suit will be designed for missions on the moon as well as in low-Earth orbit. That could be enticing for non-NASA customers that have different missions in mind.

The firm on Wednesday said the AxEMU suit is close to the final stage of development, with a critical design review expected next year. Already, it has endured underwater, reduced gravity, and pressurized simulation testing at NASA facilities. In the coming months, the space agency will perform crewed underwater testing at its Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and gauge the suit’s fit with the prototype lunar rover the Artemis astronauts will drive.

Simultaneously, Axiom is developing the Axiom Station: one of several commercial space outposts that could replace the International Space Station (ISS) when NASA destroys it at the end of the decade. The firm has already completed three NASA-approved private astronaut missions to the ISS and is scheduled for a fourth in Spring 2025.

NASA’s largest commercial partner, SpaceX, meanwhile, has developed its own EVA spacesuit, which debuted during the first civilian spacewalk on September’s Polaris Dawn mission. The company claims it will one day manufacture thousands of suits for future astronauts to build and explore on Mars.

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But Isaacman—now a SpaceX “frequent flier” after also taking part in 2021’s Inspiration4 mission, the first all-civilian spaceflight—is just getting started.

“If we actually believe in the future that SpaceX is trying to create—where tens of thousands of people can be in space, on the moon, walking around on Mars—these kinds of capabilities have to exist within commercial industry,” Isaacman told FLYING at the 2024 UP.Summit.

Polaris Dawn was the first of three missions under Isaacman’s Polaris Program. The final mission, which does not yet have a target date, is expected to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship: the most powerful rocket ever built and the vehicle CEO Elon Musk believes will help humans colonize Mars.

Isaacman and crewmates Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, the first SpaceX employees to actually fly to space, sat down with FLYING for a mission debrief to highlight their favorite moments from Polaris Dawn—and talk about what comes next.

No Days Off

From the moment they lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, secured in a SpaceX Dragon capsule strapped to a Falcon 9 rocket, the Polaris Dawn crew got to work.

On the first day of the mission, for example, the crew reached an orbital apogee of 870 miles—three times higher than the International Space Station and the farthest humans have traveled from Earth since the Apollo era. Gillis and Menon now share the record for the furthest distance traveled from Earth by a woman.

At that altitude, the crew passed through the Van Allen radiation belts, a treacherous environment for humans. It conducted research that will help scientists better understand how to protect astronauts flying through that region.

“There’s micrometeoroid and debris that’s out there. A little millimeter piece of aluminum traveling at 8 kilometers a second will shred just about everything,” Isaacman said during a panel discussion at UP.Summit. “It’s a scary prospect. But we’ve got to travel through that if we’re going to get to the moon and Mars.”

Isaacman’s favorite moment of the mission, however, was the spacewalk he and Gillis performed. It was the first time civilian astronauts ventured outside a spacecraft. And because the Dragon capsule lacks an airlock, it was also the first time four astronauts were simultaneously exposed to the vacuum of space.

“That moment when Jared opened the hatch and there was the black beauty of space outside the hatch was a moment full of sensation, full of the awe that that evoked, as well as a cold rushing over your body,” Menon said. “It’s a full body experience.”

Traveling at 17,500 mph at an orbital altitude north of 450 miles, the astronauts were protected by SpaceX’s extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, which were specially designed for Polaris Dawn. The goal of the spacewalk was to perform mobility testing on the suits—a relatively simple objective compared to previous EVAs.

“The difference is—and this is so important—is all of those had the entire weight and resources of world superpowers behind them,” Isaacman said.

NASA’s budget peaked in the 1960s, when it was about 4.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).

For Gillis, a classically trained violinist, the highlight was her on-orbit performance of “Rey’s Theme” from the Star Wars franchise. Incredibly, Gillis said she had no prior practice playing in microgravity, where pushing on the violin’s fingerboard can move the entire instrument. She used a quarter-sized bow for greater control.

“It was three crewmembers in front of me with this tangle of cables, and the chaos of them trying to get the right angle as they’re floating away, and I’m floating away,” Gillis said. “It was just this total joy to try and record that.”

The performance, organized in partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and El Sistema USA, was a charitable effort to raise awareness and funding for cancer research and access to music education. But it was also a demonstration of SpaceX’s Starlink communications system. A Starlink module on Dragon used a beam of light to transmit the footage to another satellite while both were moving at orbital speeds.

How They Did It

Polaris Dawn was a private astronaut mission, meaning SpaceX was responsible for preparing the crew. Scott “Kidd” Poteet, the fourth crewmember and a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot of two decades, said the training was more intense than anything he has ever experienced.

Gillis, a SpaceX astronaut trainer, said that while the crewmembers brought plenty of experience, combining their strengths was a learning curve. Early on, for example, they struggled through teamwork exercises in a simulator.

“We might have all of this expertise across the four of us, but we utterly failed that sim,” Gillis said. “Just because you have your own expertise doesn’t mean you are yet able to work in a team well.”

Added Menon: “It is really, really neat to see how the team develops together, how they learn to work together, and how they prepare for a mission. And it was really confidence inspiring, and really, to me, a very beautiful part of the development process getting us to launch.”

Isaacman said the training for Polaris Dawn was as special as the mission itself. The astronauts’ preparations took them scuba diving and skydiving, into the cockpit of fighter jets, and even to the top of Mount Cotopaxi in Ecuador. Each day was a new adventure.

“You came in one day and this development suit had a handful of different rotators or joints in it that we were testing out,” Isaacman said, “and then we come back the next week and it would be entirely different.”

In just two and a half years, SpaceX trained the crew, modified Dragon, and developed the EVA suits for Polaris Dawn. To put that into perspective, Menon’s husband, Anil Menon, was selected by NASA for an astronaut mission four days before Menon was picked by SpaceX—but she flew first.

Why It Matters

The technology and capabilities demonstrated during Polaris Dawn could alter human spaceflight as we know it.

The spacewalk, for example, was more than a flashy achievement. NASA’s current EVA spacesuits were designed four decades ago, and suit maintenance has forced the agency to postpone several spacewalks in recent months. Earlier this year, NASA and Collins Aerospace “mutually agreed” to end a $100 million contract that would see Collins deliver new suits by 2026.

NASA could spend billions of dollars on a suit redesign. SpaceX’s EVA suit, meanwhile, is designed to be manufactured at scale for thousands of people to build and explore on Mars, Isaacman said. The suit was designed for Polaris Dawn specifically, “but just like a lot of things that SpaceX works on, the utility is quite broad,” he said, implying that other astronauts will one day wear it.

The Starlink communications system showcased during the mission, meanwhile, could be a tool to ease demand on NASA’s Deep Space Network: an array of giant radio antennas that supports communications in the final frontier.

“We’re even hearing now, just even alleviating the demand over the [U.S. Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System] and ground stations…as being a potential communication path to lunar missions, or potentially even Mars,” Isaacman said.

The altitude record, spacewalk, and symphony performance grabbed most of the Polaris Dawn headlines. But in between those objectives, the crew conducted an array of experiments to study the health of astronauts on long-duration spaceflight.

“There’s a lot of problems we have to solve if we’re going to have thousands of people living and working in space for really long periods of time and going really far from Earth,” said Menon.

For example, crewmembers stuck a device called an endoscope down their noses to image their airways, the first time that has been accomplished in space. They also researched spaceflight associated neuro ocular syndrome (SANS), a condition developed in microgravity that can impair astronauts’ vision. Other experiments focused on motion sickness, which according to Menon affects about 6 in 10 people when they first reach space.

“If you have 100 people in a spacecraft going up at the same time, and 60 of them are vomiting, that’s a big problem,” she said.

Data from these experiments will be entered into a database that is accessible to the wider space community, allowing non-SpaceX researchers to learn for years to come.

“If we want to have a future among the stars, if we want to have many people living and working there, we need these solutions,” Gillis said. “We need a new communication system. We need EVA suits so people can actually go and explore the surface of Mars. We need to understand the health implications so by the time we get there, they haven’t lost their vision and they aren’t sick.”

The crew also spent plenty of time studying problems back on Earth.

Isaacman’s Inspiration4 crewmate, St. Jude physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux, became the first human to fly to space with a prosthesis after recovering from childhood bone cancer. That mission raised more than a quarter of a billion dollars for the charity, which signed on as a partner for Polaris Dawn.

“You’ll continue to see [St. Jude] play a huge part in all of our missions until their work is done,” Isaacman said.

The astronauts traveled the world visiting hospitals and meeting children, medical professionals, and researchers who helped inform some of their experiments. They installed Starlink connections at many facilities, providing access to the Internet and education. The work was part of St. Jude’s effort to create cancer treatment programs, educate oncologists, and provide access to safe chemotherapy treatment worldwide.

“Right now, depending on where you’re born, you either have an 80 percent chance of survival, or you have a 20 percent chance if you’re not born in the U.S.,” Gillis said. “So [St. Jude has] pioneered extraordinary outcomes for children. But if you aren’t born here, you don’t benefit from that.”

One of the mission’s most special moments was Menon’s on-orbit reading of a children’s book she authored, Kisses from Space, to her two children and St. Jude patients. Proceeds from the book will go to St. Jude, and the charity will auction off the copy that traveled to space.

“It was ultimately the story of the power of love to overcome any distance, and I think, hopefully, sharing space but also sharing human connection and the power of that through this space story,” Menon said. “Reaching kids around the world was a powerful moment.”

What’s Next?

Isaacman said the Polaris Dawn crew still has a few weeks of debriefing, and he has yet to fully turn his sights to the next Polaris mission.

“We are still very on-mission,” he said. “We really need to understand everything we got right and could have done better on this one, things we got wrong and certainly could improve upon, before you even get to what’s in the realm of possibility for Mission Two.”

Isaacman couldn’t say much about the next mission. But some time next year, he said, the Polaris team will come together to determine what they can pull off.

For example, SpaceX could improve its EVA suit with added mobility, a portable life support system, or increased pressure, which would eliminate the “prebreathe” process Polaris astronauts used to remove nitrogen from their bodies before the EVA. Chances are the next mission will feature another spacewalk.

“It would be such a travesty if [SpaceX] didn’t take what they learned and take another giant leap in a good direction,” Isaacman said. “So I would fully expect EVAs are on the horizon for the next go.”

Mission Two will set the stage for the final Polaris mission, which is expected to be the debut crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship. Both Starship and the Super Heavy booster are designed to be fully reusable, and SpaceX plans to fly them hundreds of times before adding crew. Musk in September said the company could launch uncrewed Starships to Mars within two years.

If SpaceX can successfully validate Starship, it could usher in a new era of civilian spaceflight. Gillis and Menon, for example, were the first two SpaceX employees to reach the final frontier, but they may not be the last.

“If you have a propulsion engineer, you have the interior engineer, the suit engineer on that spaceship, it makes a lot of sense to bring the expertise with you when you’re going to Mars,” Menon said. “I don’t think I ever thought it would happen this soon—and I definitely didn’t think it would be me.”

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The firm is preparing for the Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which will culminate in the long-awaited return of astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams in February. Wilmore and Williams hitched a ride to the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner in June and have remained there as engineers contended with several issues on the spacecraft.

Crew-9 will be the first human spaceflight to launch from Space Launch Complex-40. Initially scheduled to fly in August, the mission was pushed back to give NASA and Boeing more time to analyze and eventually undock Starliner, freeing up space for Dragon to dock.

The flight is NASA’s ninth Commercial Crew mission with SpaceX, the agency’s sole active contractor for that program. Boeing, the other contract recipient, is still developing Starliner but hopes to fly an inaugural astronaut rotation mission late next year. The program seeks to maintain a continuous human presence on the ISS, which in 2025 will enter its 24th consecutive year of occupation.

Crew-9 was originally slated to be a four-person mission. But only NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will fly up to the space station, meaning Dragon will launch with a pair of empty seats. NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson were taken off the flight to make way for Williams and Wilmore but are eligible for reassignment.

Hague was chosen due to his experience. Gorbunov, who has never flown to space, remains on the manifest because NASA is required to send a Roscosmos cosmonaut on the mission.

After liftoff, Dragon will accelerate to 17,500 mph before docking autonomously with the space station. Upon arrival, they will join the crew of ISS Expedition 72, which includes Wilmore, Williams, NASA astronaut Don Pettit, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.

Over the course of about five months, the crew will perform station maintenance via spacewalk and conduct more than 200 scientific research experiments, intended to prepare humans for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit as well as solve problems back on Earth. Among other things, they will study the physics of supernova explosions, the behavior of cells and platelets during long-duration spaceflight, and methods to reduce changes to astronaut brain and ocular structure due to low gravity.

NASA will provide live streaming coverage of the Crew-9 prelaunch, launch, postlaunch, and docking on NASA+ and the agency’s website, starting Friday afternoon. It will also maintain a live video feed of the launchpad in the hours leading up to liftoff and provide blog updates. Spaceflight enthusiasts can register to attend the launch virtually.

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During a committee hearing focused on FAA oversight of Boeing amid the manufacturer’s recent safety woes, Kiley squeezed in a few questions about Starship, which according to SpaceX has been bogged down by licensing issues “ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd.”

“America is being smothered by legions of regulators, often inept & politically-driven,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X on Thursday.

The largest rocket ever built, Starship so far has made four suborbital test flights. SpaceX will attempt a unique maneuver during Flight 5, using a pair of “chopstick” arms to catch the rocket’s Super Heavy booster in midair. But while Musk had hoped to launch this month, the FAA told the company its license would be ready no earlier than late November.

“I think the two-month delay is necessary to comply with the launch requirements, and I think that’s an important part of safety culture,” Whitaker said.

According to the FAA leader, SpaceX has failed to provide a sonic boom analysis for the upcoming mission, which will have a larger sonic boom radius than previous flights. That brought a 30-day delay to give the FAA time to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Whitaker said the analysis is “safety related.”

Starship faces further delays because SpaceX filed a launch application without disclosing it was in violation of Texas law, Whitaker said. The Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month told FLYING the company violated the Clean Water Act by failing to contain a liquid oxygen spill at its Starbase launchpad, prompting a $150,000 fine. SpaceX denied that it violated any laws at Starbase but ate the fine to avoid any consequences.

SpaceX also faces more than $630,000 in proposed fines from the FAA for allegedly failing to adhere to launch requirements on two previous missions. Whitaker said the fines are unrelated to the Flight 5 setback, but the agency claims the company’s unauthorized use of a new control room and fuel farm raised safety concerns. Musk, in response, said SpaceX will fight the penalties in court.

“I think safety is in the public interest, and that’s our priority focus with the proposed civil penalty,” Whitaker said, adding that fines are the “only tool” the FAA has to ensure compliance.

When asked how SpaceX could speed up the licensing process, the administrator responded, “Complying with the regulations would be the best path.”

SpaceX, however, did not take kindly to Whitaker’s comments. The company on Tuesday sent a letter to Kiley claiming that Whitaker “made several incorrect statements today regarding SpaceX,” bringing the feud between the company and the agency further into the public eye.

“In fact,” the company wrote, “every statement he made was incorrect.”

Whitaker twice said SpaceX “launched without a permit,” which as the company pointed out is not true. As the FAA notes, the firm faces penalties for “allegedly failing to follow its license requirements,” necessitating the existence of a license.

The company claimed its new fuel farm was approved by Federal Range Safety officials and analyzed by the FAA, which “required no changes to the previously approved Federal Range configuration.” The agency additionally “was on console and did not stop the countdown” for that launch, SpaceX said.

The firm further alleged that the revised sonic boom analysis for Flight 5 “has nothing to do with safety” and is a simple paperwork issue. It said USFWS officials previously determined the booms have no environmental impact and that the slightly larger impact area won’t change things.

“SpaceX submitted new information in mid-August detailing how the environmental impact of Flight 5 will cover a larger area than previously reviewed,” the FAA told FLYING earlier this month. “This requires the FAA to consult with other agencies.”

The agency did not immediately respond to FLYING’s request for comment on SpaceX’s letter to Kiley.

SpaceX has grand ambitions for Starship, with Musk earlier this week saying it would begin routine missions to Mars within two years. The company argues that scrutiny from the FAA is not in the public interest, and delaying Flight 5 due to what it believes is not a safety issue could hurt U.S. leadership in human spaceflight.

Kiley agreed, asking whether the FAA “needs to be reformed in a way that is better suited toward the type of innovation that we should be moving toward in the commercial space industry.”

“I agree that this is a vital mission, and I think SpaceX has been a very innovative company,” Whitaker said. “But I think they’re also a mature company. They’ve been around 20 years, and I think they need to operate at the highest level of safety, and that includes adopting a [safety management system] program. That includes having a whistleblower program.”

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That strange sight was the second test flight of the Spaceship Neptune-Excelsior, a test capsule designed and built by U.S. startup Space Perspective. For the price of a $125,000 ticket, the company will ferry as many as eight passengers at a time around the atmosphere in luxurious, panoramic digs for six hours. It seeks to launch commercial flights in 2026 and begin crewed test flights next year.

Space Perspective refers to Neptune as a spaceship, which is a bit of a misnomer. Reaching an altitude of about 100,000 feet, the vehicle falls well short of the Kármán line—used by international groups to define the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space—at about 50 to 60 miles altitude. Blue Origin, for example, takes customers beyond that boundary with its space tourism offering, while Virgin Galactic reaches an apogee of about 55 miles.

But according to Space Perspective, Neptune goes high enough for U.S. regulators to consider it a spacecraft. Passengers will be able to see the Earth’s curvature and experience the overview effect, a feeling of awe reported by many astronauts who have seen Earth from space, it says.

“I’m so proud of our devoted team who has worked relentlessly to execute this mission, drawing from their deep expertise and designing solutions for never-been-seen technologies,” said Taber MacCallum, founder and chief technology officer of Space Perspective. “This uncrewed flight not only proves our pioneering technology but also brings us a giant leap closer to making space accessible for everyone and reaffirms our belief in the transformative power of space travel.”

Up, Up, and Away

Space Perspective will offer an approximately six-hour journey to the stratosphere, hovering at about 100,000 feet for two hours.

Spaceship Neptune comprises the capsule, SpaceBalloon launch mechanism, and reserve descent system, all of which are patented, the company says. Flights will be regulated under FAR Part 460 for human space flight requirements and adhere to NASA and U.S. Coast Guard guidelines. The SpaceBalloon will lift off from the company’s marine spaceport, Voyager, and splash down in the ocean. A cone mechanism will cushion the impact and serve as an anchor.

The pressurized, spherical capsule has about 2,000 cubic feet of space, enough for eight passengers plus a captain. Its lounge area is decked out with luxurious seats, foliage, and massive 360-degree windows. According to Space Perspective, its “spa-like” restroom is more lavish than what you’d find in a first-class airplane cabin.

The company’s SpaceBalloon uses hydrogen and ascends at roughly 12 mph, eliminating the g-forces experienced by astronauts. When fully inflated, it stands nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower and could fit an entire football stadium. According to Space Perspective, the balloon cannot pop. But in the case of a contingency, an emergency system comprising four parachutes would deploy automatically.

Just about every component of Neptune—from satellite and ground communications systems to thermal controls to sensors and antennae—was designed and built in-house.

During their flight, customers will be treated to an array of amenities including food, a fully stocked bar with cocktail service, and high-speed Wi-Fi capable of connecting with friends and family on Earth. Interior and exterior cameras will capture photo and video of the experience.

Critically, no training is required. After placing a refundable $1,000 deposit, Space Perspective will walk the customer through the journey, provide regular updates, and help book travel to mission control at Space Coast Regional Airport (KTIX). The company claims it has sold more than 1,800 seats.

Space Perspective is calling Sunday’s test flight a wet dress rehearsal. Neptune completed the company’s nominal six-hour mission profile, launching from Voyager, ascending to apogee, and performing a controlled descent and splashdown.

At its peak, the company says, the capsule maintained cabin pressure and stability, with thermal management systems adjusting temperature based on outside fluctuations. Data from the flight will be used to refine its digital twin system developed in partnership with Siemens, which can recreate the mission profile virtually for additional testing. Space Perspective hopes the data will pave the way for crewed missions, which in December it said it was targeting by the end of 2024.

Sunday’s flight builds on the company’s previous test in 2021, when the balloon launched with a capsule simulator from Space Coast Air and Spaceport. Initial commercial flights will also launch from the Space Coast, though the firm is looking to add service in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. It has so far raised $100 million from investors in support of those efforts.

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Commander Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments who purchased the five-day orbital flight from SpaceX, and mission specialist Sarah Gillis, one of two SpaceX engineers who are the company’s first employees to fly to space, exited SpaceX’s Dragon capsule one at a time, each spending about 12 minutes outside. The astronauts were traveling at 17,500 mph at an altitude more than 450 miles above Earth, higher than the International Space Station.

But there’s a catch. Because Dragon does not have an airlock, all four crewmembers were exposed to the vacuum of space. The mission profile added risk compared to a typical spacewalk, where astronauts enter and exit through a vacuum-sealed chamber.

“Today’s EVA was the first time four humans were exposed to the vacuum of space while completing the first-ever commercial astronaut spacewalk from a commercially-produced spacecraft in commercially-produced extravehicular activity [EVA] suits,” said Stu Keech, vice president of Dragon engineering at SpaceX.

SpaceX provided live stream coverage of the full, approximately two-hour process, which can be rewatched here.

The Falcon 9 rocket carrying Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Tuesday morning. Almost immediately, the astronauts began preparing for the spacewalk.

The first step was a “prebreathe” to remove nitrogen bubbles that can form within body tissues, causing decompression sickness. During the approximately two-day process, the cabin’s pressure was lowered and oxygen levels were raised gradually to help the crew acclimate.

After that, the astronauts donned their EVA spacesuits, which are designed to be worn both inside and outside the spacecraft. Developed by SpaceX with help from Isaacman’s Polaris team, the suits have endured hundreds of hours of testing and feature greater mobility, durability, and even a high-tech heads-up display (HUD).

“Building a base on the moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of spacesuits,” SpaceX said in a post on X. “The development of this suit, and the EVA performed on this mission, will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions.”

After completing suit leak checks and venting Dragon down to vacuum, Isaacman opened the hatch and was first to egress. Remaining attached to the spacecraft, he used a specially designed structure called Skywalker to move around and perform tests on the suit’s thermal and mobility systems. Skywalker is equipped with several cameras that were used to capture the moment in real time.

“SpaceX, back at home we all have a lot of work to do,” Isaacman said as he looked down on the planet below, “but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.”

After Isaacman returned, it was Gillis’ turn. The SpaceX engineer stepped out and performed the same series of tests, while mission pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and mission specialist and medical officer Anna Menon monitored her support systems.

Finally, the hatch was closed, Dragon was repressurized, and the astronauts removed their suits.

“Dragon uses pure nitrogen during ‘repress,’ which mixes with the pure oxygen being released into the cabin via the open loop system that keeps the EVA suits pressurized,” SpaceX said. “This process is unique to Dragon which acts as its own airlock.”

From venting to repressurization, the entire process took about one hour and 45 minutes.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was quick to praise the crew for its historic achievement, as was NASA administrator Bill Nelson.

“Congratulations @PolarisProgram and @SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history!” Nelson posted on X. “Today’s success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and @NASA’s long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy.”

Polaris Dawn, the first of three missions Isaacman purchased for SpaceX under the Polaris program, has so far lived up to its lofty expectations. In addition to the spacewalk, the astronauts on day two of the mission ascended to an orbital height not reached by humans since the Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972, passing through hazardous radiation belts. 

Menon also read a children’s book she authored, Kisses from Space, for her family and patients of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, live from orbit. While the Polaris missions are scientific—Polaris Dawn alone will conduct nearly 40 experiments—they are also billed as charitable endeavors to raise money for St. Jude.

Ultimately, the Polaris program may have a ripple effect on NASA’s efforts to return Americans to the moon via the Artemis program.

Polaris Mission III is expected to be the debut crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. The space agency has asked the company to develop a lunar lander variant of Starship to land astronauts on the moon’s south pole, which will be used during Artemis III scheduled for September 2026.

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On Tuesday, as the company occasionally does when facing what it deems to be unfair treatment, SpaceX posted a lengthy update decrying the decision. According to the firm, the FAA had assured it that Starship would get the green light this month. It claims the rocket has been ready to fly since early August, an assertion CEO Elon Musk reiterated last week.

“Unfortunately, we continue to be stuck in a reality where it takes longer to do the government paperwork to license a rocket launch than it does to design and build the actual hardware,” the firm said. “This should never happen and directly threatens America’s position as the leader in space.”

With the ability to be used multiple times on the cheap, Starship is expected to be a game-changer for U.S. spaceflight. SpaceX wants to launch the rocket up to 120 times per year from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Musk last week claimed the vehicle will reach Mars within two years.

SpaceX is also developing a Starship human landing system (HLS), a lunar lander variant of the spacecraft, for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which would return Americans to the moon for the first time in more than half a century. Starship will require a few more test flights before the mission, which is scheduled for late 2026.

That’s not much time, but SpaceX plans to get there using its philosophy of iterative design. Basically, the company puts flight hardware through real-world testing as often as possible to learn quickly and improve the chances of success on the next flight. The strategy helped it commercialize the now-ubiquitous Falcon rocket.

“The more we fly safely, the faster we learn; the faster we learn, the sooner we realize full and rapid rocket reuse,” SpaceX said.

Each Starship test flight has flown farther and accomplished more than the last. The fourth, in June, marked the first time both Starship and the Super Heavy booster made it back to Earth in one piece after the first two attempts ended in explosions.

Keeping with the trend, Flight 5 will feature the most ambitious goal yet. SpaceX will attempt to catch Super Heavy midair using two large “chopstick” arms, returning it safely to the Starbase launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas. 

The maneuver could pose risk to Starbase’s launch tower, but SpaceX says it has been preparing for years. The delay could create a ripple effect that hampers future Starship test flights. Safely returning the booster is a critical piece of the system’s reusability.

“It’s understandable that such a unique operation would require additional time to analyze from a licensing perspective,” the firm said. “Unfortunately, instead of focusing resources on critical safety analysis and collaborating on rational safeguards to protect both the public and the environment, the licensing process has been repeatedly derailed by issues ranging from the frivolous to the patently absurd.”

What’s the Holdup?

SpaceX said the FAA communicated that a launch license would be awarded this month, but the process has been delayed due to “four open environmental issues” it deems unnecessary.

Starship’s maiden voyage in April 2023 was a brief but bombastic one. The FAA grounded the rocket as it investigated the launch and explosion, which shook buildings, shattered windows, and sent ash and debris flying miles away.

The impact was more severe than SpaceX anticipated due to the lack of a flame deflector—a common fixture at launch sites that uses water to absorb energy and heat—beneath Starbase. According to Musk, the system was absent because it “wasn’t ready in time” and the company thought the pad could withstand the launch.

The FAA’s handling of Starship’s initial launch license prompted a lawsuit from five environmental groups, which the agency reportedly has sought to dismiss. With the flame deflector installed, subsequent Starship flights have not destroyed the launch pad.

However, the FAA has approved two 60-day consultations that could extend the timeline for a fifth mission.

According to SpaceX, the only proposed change to the mission’s hot-stage jettison—during which the top of the Super Heavy booster is expelled—is a new splashdown location, which it says would not raise the risk of harm to marine life. Still, the FAA signed off on a consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service to evaluate the new site.

“SpaceX’s current license authorizing the Starship Flight 4 launch also allows for multiple flights of the same vehicle configuration and mission profile,” the agency told FLYING. “SpaceX chose to modify both for its proposed Starship Flight 5 launch which triggered a more in-depth review.”

SpaceX, though, fears the review could be longer.

“The mechanics of these types of consultations outline that any new questions raised during that time can reset the 60-day counter, over and over again,” it said.

A separate consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), requested by the FAA due to Flight 5’s larger sonic boom radius, could add to the delays. A sonic boom occurs as Starship slows from supersonic speeds on its way back to Earth.

“SpaceX submitted new information in mid-August detailing how the environmental impact of Flight 5 will cover a larger area than previously reviewed,” the FAA said. “This requires the FAA to consult with other agencies.”

According to SpaceX, both agencies have studied Starship booster landings and concluded there is no significant environmental impact from sonic booms. The firm also claims studies back the idea that sonic booms have no detrimental effect on wildlife—but the jury is still out on that one.

According to an evaluation by the California Coastal Commission of SpaceX’s request to increase Falcon 9 launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, experts don’t fully understand the effects of noise on animals. The commission rejected the request in part because sonic booms generated by Falcon 9—a less powerful rocket than Starship—force too many closures and evacuations of local parks.

“At Starbase, we implement an extensive list of mitigations developed with federal and state agencies, many of which require year-round monitoring and frequent updates to regulators and consultation with independent biological experts,” SpaceX said.

Among other things, the company says it works with a local nonprofit to transport injured sea turtles for treatment and monitors bird local populations, using drones to search for nests before and after launch and. It also “adopted” Boca Chica Beach through a Texas state program and sponsors quarterly cleanups it says have removed hundreds of pounds of trash.

A CNBC report last month, which SpaceX swiftly rebuked, alleged that the company violated the Clean Water Act. The Environmental Protection Agency, though, told FLYING it did indeed violate that law.

Days before Starship’s third test flight in March, the EPA issued an order directing the company to eliminate “unpermitted discharges,” citing a liquid oxygen spill from the flame deflector’s water deluge system that seeped into the surrounding wetlands. SpaceX was forced to apply for a new permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), which it did in July, but still ate a fine of nearly $150,000 to resolve the violation.

In response, the company denied it ever discharged pollutants or operated the deluge system without TCEQ permission. According to SpaceX, the device uses “literal drinking water” and has been deemed safe by the FAA, TCEQ, and USFWS.

SpaceX further claimed that the EPA issued its order without knowledge of its TCEQ license or “a basic understanding of the facts” of the system’s operation. It added that the fines are “entirely tied to disagreements over paperwork” and stem from a simple misunderstanding.

“We chose to settle so that we can focus our energy on completing the missions and commitments that we have made to the U.S. government, commercial customers, and ourselves,” SpaceX said. “Paying fines is extremely disappointing when we fundamentally disagree with the allegations, and we are supported by the fact that EPA has agreed that nothing about the operation of our flame deflector will need to change. Only the name of the permit has changed.”

The proposed settlement is open for public comment until October 21.

Singled Out?

The implication by SpaceX is that it is being unfairly targeted for its successes.

The company is prolific within the commercial spaceflight industry—experts estimate it accounted for 87 percent of all spacecraft mass space operators sent into orbit in 2023. At the same time, it handles more NASA missions than any of the agency’s private contractors.

That dominance occasionally draws ire from competitors such as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, or, as SpaceX puts it, “bad-faith hysterics from online detractors or special interest groups.”

“Despite a small, but vocal, minority of detractors trying to game the regulatory system to obstruct and delay the development of Starship, SpaceX remains committed to the mission at hand,” the company said.

NASA has made it known that it intends to become one of many customers within a commercial space ecosystem, rather than a service provider, by the end of the decade. As SpaceX continues to snap up NASA contracts—including an agreement to deorbit the International Space Station, ushering in that new era—rivals and critics may fear that its supremacy will only grow.

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The 218-page document, assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) at the behest of Congress, warns that NASA is prioritizing short-term missions and commercial contracts over the people and technology that make its out-of-this-world activities possible.

Per the report, the space agency’s emphasis on near-term victories and overreliance on private contractors comes at the price of a strained budget, degraded infrastructure, and exodus of talented personnel.

“NASA should rebalance its priorities and increase investments in its facilities, expert workforce, and development of cutting-edge technology, even if it means forestalling initiation of new missions,” the NASEM said.

NASEM operates under a congressional charter and comprises private and nonprofit institutions that provide independent analysis on public policy decisions. The academies release decadal reports on topics such as astronomy and planetary science, effectively giving NASA and Congress a roadmap for funding over the next ten years. The studies take years to put together and are considered influential within the spaceflight community.

Tuesday’s publication, titled NASA at a Crossroads, is a bit of an aberration. The report was requested by Congress in 2022 amid growing pressure from China, which in June became the first nation to return samples from the moon’s far side.

NASEM members met with experts, visited NASA centers, sent requests for information, and reviewed agency documents to inform their conclusions. The outlook, the organization says, may be bleak.

The State of NASA

The NASEM report paints the picture of an agency in turmoil from top to bottom.

Internal and external pressure from NASA and its benefactors has placed it in a bit of a tight spot. Agency senior center managers told researchers they would prefer to spend additional funding on new missions rather than facility maintenance or personnel training. But per the U.S. Committee on Human Spaceflight, NASA annually spends about $3 billion on missions it cannot afford.

“Each dollar of mission support that previously had to sustain a dollar of mission activity now has to support $1.50 of mission activity, effectively a 50 percent increase,” the report says.

In short, the agency’s workload is expanding more rapidly than its mission budget—and that’s absorbing money that could be better spent elsewhere.

NASA infrastructure is essential to the agency’s mission and is used by other agencies and private partners. But “chronic insufficient funding” has resulted in about 83 percent of the agency’s facilities, many of which were built in the 1960s, exceeding their design life. These aging assets are difficult to maintain, soak up valuable personnel time, and make NASA less attractive to prospective talent.

“During its inspection tours, the committee saw some of the worst facilities many of its members have ever seen,” NASEM said.

For example, according to the report, NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN)—a network of radio dishes around the globe that receive and transmit data from missions—is too degraded to support current and planned projects without disrupting others. DSN locations over the next decade will cost tens of millions to maintain, it predicts, while contending with a thin workforce and failing infrastructure. The DSN budget in 2022 was $200 million, down from $250 million in 2010.

NASA’s employee turnover rate is largely consistent with the commercial space industry, per the report. But agency employees cited lower salaries and greater private sector involvement as deterrents to working there. In addition, NASEM found that women and minorities are underrepresented, leaving plenty of talent untapped.

Researchers worry the prevalence of certain commercial contracts, such as fixed-price or milestone-based, could make matters even worse by turning NASA engineers into contract monitors. These agreements stifle agency personnel by reducing hands-on work while opening the door for private companies to develop technology that, in the NASEM’s view, should be built in-house.

“Innovative, creative engineers don’t want to have a job that consists of overseeing other people’s work,” said ex-Lockheed Martin executive Norm Augustine, the lead author of the report, during a virtual briefing Tuesday afternoon.

A Tight Budget

NASA’s tendency to prioritize short-term missions over long-term success stems in part from a constrained budget environment.

Between 2014 and 2023, the agency’s funding actually increased by an average of more than 3 percent over the previous year. But over the past two decades, its purchasing power has essentially held flat while mission complexity has grown. During the peak of the Apollo program, NASEM estimates, purchasing power was about three times higher.

The 2023 debt ceiling agreement capped increases to federal non-defense discretionary funding for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, and NASA has felt the impact. Its 2024 budget left it with about half a billion less than it had in 2023. The 8.5 percent discrepancy between what the agency requested and what it received was the largest since 1992.

The funding cut gives NASA little wiggle room for certain missions such as Mars Sample Return, for which the agency has requested help from private industry to lower costs. Another high-profile program, the Chandra X-ray observatory, was placed on the chopping block, and several others have been delayed.

It could be a similar story in 2025. The White House’s 2025 NASA budget request, which seeks the same amount awarded in 2023, has been marked up by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, with the latter’s proposal reading much more favorable.

Under the House budget, NASA would receive $200 million less than requested, a slight increase over 2024 in real dollars but below the current rate of inflation.

The biggest loser would be the Science Mission Directorate, which would get $7.3 billion—the same as 2024’s allocation, which represented the first cut to NASA’s science budget in a decade. A coalition of scientific organizations and more than 40 members of Congress believe the agency needs closer to $9 billion to support its dozens of space science missions.

Mars Sample Return could also suffer despite the House requiring it to spend $450 million more than NASA requested.

That’s because it would provide less than half of that money, leaving NASA to scrounge up the rest by axing other planetary science projects. The House would require full funding for certain programs, so only a few—namely Discovery, New Frontiers, and fundamental research—would be candidates for cuts. Within those programs are the critical Veritas Venus mission and Dragonfly Saturn moon mission, both of which could be jeopardized.

Also at risk is the Artemis lunar program, the successor to Apollo. NASA asked to shift funding from flight-proven components to novel technology that will be used on future missions, including the return of Americans to the moon during Artemis III. But the House mandates that the former programs maintain their historical levels of funding.

According to Casey Dreier, head of policy at the Planetary Society, that creates a roughly “half-billion-dollar hole” for the Lunar Gateway moon space station. To fill it, NASA will need to either redirect funds from other programs or significantly cut Gateway funding.

Artemis II and Artemis III have already been pushed to September 2025 and 2026, respectively, and NASA has hinted at delays to future missions. Earlier this year, it suddenly canceled development of the Viper lunar rover due to budget uncertainty.

“Future funding is clouded by the ever-declining federal discretionary budget from which NASA support is provided,” the report says.

Things may improve in 2026 when spending caps are lifted. However, NASA within the last year and change has lowered its budget projection for 2030 from about $30 billion to $28 billion.

Instant Gratification

NASA’s inefficiencies arise not just from its meager budget but also from how the agency uses it, the NASEM says.

The agency is often stretched thin by the sheer number of projects it pursues, causing setbacks to individual missions as in the case of Mars Sample Return or the James Webb Space Telescope.

Further, according to the report, many NASA leaders dismiss the need for long-term internal strategy, citing immense influence from Congress on its annual projects and budget. In short, the perception within NASA is that doing so would waste resources.

“Even planning for the advancing Artemis program lacks certain action-specific details associated with an architecture that is more complex and interdependent than Apollo,” the NASEM said.

But the lack of foresight by leadership results in unrealistic initial cost estimates, creating a domino effect that forces underfunded missions to pull money from other programs. The NASEM characterizes NASA’s internal research and development program, for example, as underfunded.

“The inevitable consequence of such a strategy is to erode those essential capabilities that led to the organization’s greatness in the first place and that underpin its future potential,” the report reads. “The profound negative consequences of this are felt far beyond the specific projects producing the delays and unanticipated funding demands.”

The NASEM recommended a total overhaul of NASA’s long-term mission planning process, including required “need dates” for capability and component needs. It also suggested that as responsibility shifts from NASA centers to specialized mission directorates, the agency should make sure its checks and balances are providing enough oversight.

An Eroding Base

Because NASA puts so much energy into its missions, the agency has neglected the engine that drives them: personnel and infrastructure.

Since 2017, only two NASA congressional authorization acts—which allocate funds from the Treasury Department and establish new programs and policy focuses—have been made law.  According to the report, “this inhibits the forecasting of workforce, infrastructure, and technology needs.”

On the infrastructure side, the NASEM recommended NASA work with Congress to create a revolving working capital fund (WCF) financed by the government and users of NASA facilities, similar to those for other federal departments. The agency could use the money to eliminate its maintenance backlog over the next decade and make continuous infrastructure enhancements.

Equally concerning is the agency’s workforce, which faces more competition for employment than ever before. Creating a commercial space ecosystem was a U.S. national policy goal for decades, and NASA has benefitted from working with private companies. These partnerships are necessary, the report argues, but verging on excessive.

Researchers contend that specialized, early phase mission work should be handled in-house, or NASA risks losing the talent that has propelled it thus far. Fixed-price or milestone-based contacts, such as the Artemis human landing system (HLS) agreements with SpaceX and Blue Origin, take agency personnel out of the picture. Many employees told researchers they would like more training or opportunities to hone their skills.

“In this case, NASA is more of a contract monitor than a technical organization capable of taking humanity into the solar system,” the NASEM said. “The concern is not only an erosion of ‘smart-buyer’ capability, but also of the capacity to invent and innovate.”

There is also the risk that a commercial provider exits the market or fails to deliver. A NASA inspector general report, for instance, blames contractor Boeing for certain delays associated with the Artemis program.

The NASEM directs NASA to invest in “early-stage, mission-critical technologies” that commercial firms have yet to crack, emphasize more hands-on work, and unearth new talent by targeting underrepresented demographics.

It could also seek to update the NASA Flexibility Act of 2004, which was implemented partially in response to the space shuttle Columbia accident and dictates what the agency can pay employees. By securing greater appointment and hiring authority, it could ease the burden of attracting and retaining talent.

Houston, Do We Have a Problem?

NASA’s budget woes have been well documented. The NASEM report, however, raises new concerns about how the agency uses what little it receives.

It’s not all NASA’s fault—the agency’s effort to scale back Mars Sample Return, for example, faces opposition from the House. If NASA must divert funding from other projects to support that mission, the blame would land squarely on Congress.

But the agency certainly isn’t helping matters. The neglect of long-term mission planning, despite lawmakers’ control over the budget, borders on ineptitude. Infrastructure and technology are dated. And private firms are snapping up talent faster than NASA can produce it.

Given the pressure the agency faces internally, from the government, and from its contractors, these issues are unlikely to resolve themselves without some serious effort. The hope is that the adoption of the Senate’s more favorable budget proposal, and the lifting of spending caps in 2026, could give it some much needed support. But NASA’s fortunes will also hinge on a reassessment of its priorities.

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Polaris Dawn, a five-day orbital mission purchased from the company by Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments, is scheduled for lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than 3:38 a.m. EDT Tuesday morning. Backup launch opportunities are available at 5:23 a.m. EDT and 7:09 a.m. EDT, with the same approximately four-hour window open Wednesday morning.

Spaceflight enthusiasts can watch as SpaceX streams the launch and mission highlights—including the first attempt at a civilian spacewalk—live on its website, X account, and YouTube channel. Coverage will begin 3.5 hours before takeoff. The company and Isaacman’s Polaris Program will post mission updates on their websites and social media feeds.

What’s the Big Deal?

Polaris Dawn’s four-person crew comprises Isaacman and retired Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, as well as SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, who will be the first company employees to actually reach space. They will hitch a ride on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and circle the Earth in a modified version of the firm’s Crew Dragon capsule.

The Dragon—which in 2021 carried the first all-civilian astronaut crew on the Inspiration4 mission, also purchased by Isaacman—required a few major tweaks to support the historic civilian spacewalk. Arguably the riskiest portion of the mission, viewers will be able to witness it in real time.

Only two astronauts will exit the capsule, using newly installed mobility aids to perform tests on SpaceX’s specially designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits. The spacewalk is scheduled to happen on day three of the flight, which would be Thursday if it launches as planned.

“It will look like we’re doing a little bit of a dance,” said Isaacman last month, “…[but] we’re going through a test matrix on the suit. And the idea is to learn as much as we possibly can about this suit and get it back to the engineers to inform future suit design evolutions.”

However, because Dragon lacks an airlock, all four crewmembers will be exposed to the vacuum of space. To prepare, NASA engineers “baked out” the capsule’s interior using what is essentially a giant oven. The objective was to burn off toxic chemicals that could be released when oxygen is vented from the cabin.

Plenty of work has gone into preparing the astronauts and their EVA suits too. In the two days leading up to the spacewalk, for example, crew members will perform what is known as a “prebreathe” to remove nitrogen bubbles that can form within body tissues, causing decompression sickness.

In addition, the astronauts have spent about 100 hours wearing their suits and thousands of hours preparing using simulators, vacuum chambers, and centrifuges. They’ve gone scuba diving and skydiving, flown fighter jets, and even summited Ecuador’s Cotopaxi, a nearly 20,000-foot peak.

Poteet, who flew Air Force fighters for nearly two decades and was a Thunderbird, said the regimen was “some of the most challenging training that I’ve ever experienced.”

Though it will not be live streamed, Polaris Dawn will also ascend to an orbital height not reached by humans since the Apollo 17 astronauts more than half a century ago. A few hours after launch on Tuesday, Dragon will fly to an apogee of 870 miles, passing through a portion of the treacherous Van Allen radiation belts.

The following day, live on orbit, Menon will read a children’s book she authored to her family and patients of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Polaris Dawn in addition to being a research mission is a charitable endeavor, aiming to raise millions for St. Jude like Inspiration4 before it.

On the fourth day of the mission, there will also be a live demonstration of a special communication system in Dragon’s trunk, which uses laser beams to interact with Starlink satellites as they zip through space. SpaceX last month said the stream will be worth tuning into but did not provide specifics.

If all goes according to plan, Isaacman, Poteet, Gillis, and Menon will splash down at one of seven locations off the coast of Florida on Sunday.

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The spacecraft is scheduled to autonomously undock from the ISS no earlier than Friday, making way for a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft carrying NASA’s two-person Crew-9 astronaut rotation mission. Wilmore and Williams will hitch a ride home on that Dragon, rather than Starliner, after NASA determined the beleaguered Boeing spacecraft poses too much risk to return with crew as planned.

The space agency on Monday said the strange sounds have ceased and will have “no technical impact to the crew, Starliner, or station operations, including Starliner’s uncrewed undocking from the station.”

According to a conversation picked up by a Michigan-based meteorologist and first reported by Ars Technica, Wilmore on Saturday radioed NASA mission control at Johnson Space Center in Houston to report the odd sound.

“Got a question about Starliner,” he said. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker…I don’t know what’s making it.”

The astronaut asked mission control to listen in and see if it could determine the source of the noise. Moments later, Houston called back and Wilmore, now inside Starliner, held his microphone up to the spacecraft’s speakers, picking up the unusual sound.

“All right, Butch, that one came through,” mission control said. “It was kind of like a pulsing noise, almost like a sonar ping.”

The operator confirmed with Wilmore that there were no “other weird noises” coming from Starliner.

“I’ll do it one more time and let y’all scratch your heads and see if you can figure out what’s going on,” Wilmore replied, capturing the sound again. “Call us if you figure it out.”

Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who flew two space shuttle missions and served a stint as ISS commander, had an ominous response to the noise in a post on X.

“There are several noises I’d prefer not to hear inside my spaceship, including this one that @Boeing Starliner is now making,” Hadfield said.

NASA, though, offered a more mundane explanation for the pulsing sound.

“The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner,” the space agency said. “The space station audio system is complex, allowing multiple spacecraft and modules to be interconnected, and it is common to experience noise and feedback. The crew is asked to contact mission control when they hear sounds originating in the comm system.”

This wouldn’t be the first time astronauts have encountered unusual noises in space. In 1969, for example, Apollo 10 astronauts reported hearing strange whistling “music” as they circled the moon. Apollo 11 pilot Michael Collins said he heard a similar “woo-woo sound” during his mission, which engineers have chalked up to radio interference.

More recently, Yang Liwei, the first Chinese man to reach space in 2003, recalled hearing what sounded like “someone knocking the body of the spaceship just as knocking an iron bucket with a wooden hammer.” Scientists now believe it was the result of air pressure changes.

It appears the noise heard aboard Starliner likewise has a rational explanation. Regardless, Wilmore and Williams will not need to concern themselves with it, as they are set to ride SpaceX’s Dragon back to Earth. The astronauts will return in February, eight months after they arrived at the space station.

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