Polaris Dawn crew gears up for first commercial, non-government spacewalk
CBSN
Billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX crew trainer Sarah Gillis plan to open the forward hatch of their Polaris Dawn spacecraft early Thursday to take turns floating outside in the first non-government spacewalk in the history of space exploration.
With crewmates Anna Menon and Scott Poteet monitoring safety tethers and umbilicals inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, Isaacman and Gillis plan to float out into open space after depressurizing the spacecraft around 2:23 a.m. EDT, using a scaffold-like "Skywalker" assembly extending from the hatch for stability.
While their feet will be just outside the hatch, they will not "free float" away from the Crew Dragon. Their SpaceX-designed pressure suits are not equipped with their own oxygen supply or other life support equipment and rely on the 12-foot-long umbilicals to deliver air, power and communications.
Several towns in southeastern North Carolina saw historic rainfall Monday as a potential tropical cyclone ripped through the area. Precipitation in Carolina Beach, along the coast near Wilmington, set an especially striking record. According to the National Weather Service, 18 inches of rain fell over Ocean Boulevard over the course of 12 hours — something that only happens "once every 1,000 years," meteorologists said.
Women in the U.S. now constitute almost 6 in 10 college graduates and half the labor market, yet many continue to experience bias and other headwinds in the workplace, including a rate of sexual harassment that hasn't improved in five years, according to a new study from consulting firm McKinsey and advocacy group Lean In.