Musk's SpaceX to attempt first-ever private spacewalk with new suits, vehicle

SpaceX's attempt at the first ever private spacewalk next week will be a test of trailblazing equipment, including slim spacesuits and a cabin with no airlock, in one of the riskiest missions yet for Elon Musk's space company.

A billionaire entrepreneur, a retired military fighter pilot and two SpaceX employees are poised to launch on Tuesday aboard a modified Crew Dragon craft, before embarking on a 20-minute spacewalk 434 miles into space two days later.

Until now, walking into the empty expanse of space has only been attempted by government astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), 250 miles above Earth.

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SpaceX's five-day mission - dubbed Polaris Dawn - will swing in an oval-shaped orbit, passing as close to Earth as 118 miles and as far as 870 miles, the farthest any humans will have ventured since the end of the United States' Apollo moon program in 1972.

Crew members, including billionaire Jared Isaacman, will don SpaceX's new, slimline spacesuits in a Crew Dragon vehicle that was modified so it can open its hatch door in the vacuum of space - an unusual process that removes the need for an airlock.

"They're pushing the envelope in multiple ways," retired NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman said in an interview. "They're also going to a much higher altitude, with a more severe radiation environment than we've been to since Apollo."

The mission has been bankrolled by Isaacman, the founder of electronic payment company Shift4. He has declined to say how much he has spent, but it is estimated to be over $100 million.

Joining him will be mission pilot Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both senior engineers at the company.

For SpaceX, which has pioneered cheap, reusable rockets and expensive private spaceflight, the mission is an opportunity to advance technologies that could be used on the moon and Mars.

Far outside the protective bubble of Earth's atmosphere, the electronics and shielding on Crew Dragon and spacesuits will be tested as they pass through parts of the Van Allen belt, an area where charged particles streaming mainly from the sun can disrupt satellites' electronics and affect human health.

"That's an additional risk that you don't face when you just stay in low-Earth orbit and go up to the ISS," Reisman said.

The Polaris spacewalk will take place on the mission's third day, but preparation will begin about 45 hours in advance.

The gumdrop-shaped Crew Dragon's entire cabin will be depressurized and exposed to the vacuum of space. While only two of the astronauts will float outside, tethered by an oxygen line, the whole crew will depend on their spacesuits for life support.

Days before the spacewalk, the crew will begin a "pre-breathe" process to fill the cabin with pure oxygen and remove any nitrogen from the air.

Nitrogen, if present in astronauts' bloodstreams in space, could form bubbles, block blood flow and lead to decompression sickness, known as "the bends," as with scuba divers who return too quickly to the water's surface.

The crew will use an ultrasound device to monitor any bubble formation, one of many tools to be used in the mission to inform dozens of scientific experiments, providing researchers a rare peek into how astronauts might fare on the moon's surface or elsewhere in deep space.

"It gives us a very unique opportunity to test these vehicles in such a very unique environment," said Emmanuel Urquieta, vice chair for aerospace medicine at the University of Central Florida's internal medicine department.

While astronaut safety on NASA missions is rigorously overseen by the agency, there are no such U.S. standards or laws for spaceflight safety in private missions like Polaris.

SpaceX officials and the Polaris crew said during a Monday news conference they have planned for an array of contingency scenarios if something during the mission goes wrong, such as an oxygen leak or failure to reseal the hatch door, but they did not detail what those were.

Reisman said he knows the Polaris crew and believes they are prepared to handle any unexpected mishaps.

"But there's not a lot of room for error," he said.

Colorado bans reporter from questioning Deion Sanders citing 'personal attacks' in previous coverage

Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders had a tense exchange with a reporter during media day on Aug. 9. Sanders made it clear that he was not fond of some of Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler's coverage of him and the Buffaloes football program in the past.

"You don’t like us, man. Why do you do this to yourself?" Sanders asked Keeler at one point during the press conference. "No, I’m serious. Why do you do this? Like you know you don’t. Like, why do you do this?"

Two weeks after the back and forth, Colorado announced that Keeler would no longer be permitted to direct questions at Sanders or anyone else involved with the football program. The university described some of Keeler's past coverage as "personal attacks on the football program."

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"After a series of sustained, personal attacks on the football program and specifically Coach Prime, the CU Athletic Department in conjunction with the football program, have decided not to take questions from Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler at football-related events," the athletic department said in a statement obtained by ESPN. 

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Colorado officials added that the reporter's access to "football-related activities" remains intact, and his colleagues from the newspaper are free to direct questions to the Buffaloes' head coach.

"Keeler is still permitted to attend football-related activities as a credentialed member of the media and other reporters from the Denver Post are welcome to ask questions of football program personnel made available to the media, including coaches, players and staff."

A Colorado athletic department spokesperson told the outlet that some of Keeler's previous references to Sanders were an issue, including instances when the coach was referred to as "Deposition Deion," the "Bruce Lee of B.S.," and a "false prophet." Certain phrases such as "Planet Prime," "the Deion Kool-Aid" and "circus" also created points of contention, the unnamed Colorado athletic department media relations staffer said, per The Denver Post.

The exchange between Sanders and Keeler earlier this month went on for around 90 seconds, with the Pro Football Hall of Famer pushing Keeler for an answer to his question. Keeler did ask Sanders multiple times if he could ask a "football question."

"It would be hard for me to really engage in someone I don’t like or someone I don’t like. I’m just asking why? Like why? What did I do?" Sanders repeated.

The columnist responded by telling the coach that he "didn't do anything."

"You’ve gotta pay bills, man. You didn’t do anything. It’s not about that. This is a football question," he said.

The columnist then again tried to ask a question, but Sanders continued his line of questioning.

"But why? I’m asking you why? … You want me to answer you, so why? … You’re always under attack. Like what did we do to you?" Sanders said.

Sanders eventually agreed to discuss the matter with Keeler in a private setting at a later date.

"No, we’ll talk about that when we talk about that. I’ll talk about that with you," Sanders said. 

Keeler published a column shortly after the exchange with Sanders, which said the coach was "a confident man who suddenly looked and acted and sounded ... afraid." 

The Denver Post said that Sanders' contract states that he only has to talk to "mutually agreed-upon media."

Denver Post sports editor Matt Schubert responded to Colorado's move to ban Keeler from questioning Sanders. 

"It's well within anyone's right to not take questions from [Denver Post sports reporters and columnists]. The reasons listed here by CU, however, are entirely subjective. It would be more accurate to say, 'We don't like Sean Keeler's critiques of our program,'" Schubert wrote in a post shared on social media.

Keeler is the latest reporter whom Sanders took issue with and ultimately banned. When he was the head coach at Jackson State in 2021, a reporter with the Mississippi Clarion Ledger was barred from covering the football program. The outlet posted a story that touched on a court filing about a top recruit who faced charges stemming from an alleged assault on a woman. The paper learned of the banning the day after the story was published.

Colorado finished the 2023 campaign with a 4-8 record. Sanders hopes to improve on that record this year. The Buffaloes will host North Dakota State on Aug. 31 to open the 2024 season.

The game will also mark Colorado's debut as a member of the Big 12 Conference.

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