CNN 10｜Mission to space, Australian law, Paralympics

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello and welcome. I'm Coy Wire. This is CNN 10, where I tell you the what, letting you decide what to think. No opinion, no slant, just the news of the day in 10 minutes time.

Let's get started with some news about outer space. For the first time, a four-person crew of private astronauts is set to travel into Earth's radiation belts to conduct the first commercial spacewalk.

This is all part of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, a suspense-filled five- day trek to parts of space no human has gone since NASA's Apollo space program ended in 1972.

Now the mission was delayed after a helium leak was detected on a piece of equipment designed to detach from the rocket during takeoff. It's now scheduled to take off a day after originally planned from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

After takeoff, the four-person team is expected to travel into an oval- shaped orbit aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft, high enough to plunge the vehicle and crew into the Van Allen radiation belts. The mission will also aim to reach the highest orbit around Earth for a crewed mission, hoping to surpass the 1966 record set by NASA's Gemini 11. Accomplishing this would make the two female crew members the first women to complete this journey.

Almost immediately after launch, the crew will begin preparing for a high- risk spacewalk, making use of extravehicular activity, or EVA suits that SpaceX developed in just two and a half years. If successful, it would be the first spacewalk conducted by non-government astronauts. The Polaris Dawn mission is part of a series of SpaceX flights, aiming to test new technologies that Elon Musk's company hopes will one day see humans live and work on other planets.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one thing to fly to space. It's another thing to do a spacewalk. Until now, only NASA or government astronauts have dared to venture out into the vacuum of space. But that is all set to change with SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, funded in part by billionaire businessman and philanthropist, Jared Isaacman, who first flew to space three years ago as commander of SpaceX's Inspiration4, the first all civilian mission to orbit.

(On camera): Jared, some people are going to see the headlines and say, you know, this is just another billionaire going on a joyride to space. But what you are doing is actually quite different.

JARED ISAACMAN, SPACEX ASTRONAUT: The connotation is often negative, but in reality it -- it's just people taking that resources that they're lucky enough to accumulate in life and try and do something positive with it for the benefit of everyone.

SARAH GILLIS, SPACEX ASTRONAUT: SpaceX has these huge objectives, and to get there, there is so much that we need to go and solve. And so Polaris is all about accelerating the technology development.

FISHER (voice-over): Technology like the first new American made extra vehicular activity suit or EVA suit in more than 40 years. NASA has been trying to get new ones for its astronauts for two decades. SpaceX developed this one in just two and a half years, and now the entire Polaris Dawn crew will be testing it in space for the first time.

ISAACMAN: We are all really confident that, you know, some iteration of it is going to be worn by somebody walking on Mars someday, and -- and that just makes it even more of a privilege to be part of it.

FISHER (voice-over): While only two members of the Polaris Dawn crew will actually leave their Dragon spacecraft, all four will be exposed to the vacuum of space when the Dragon opens its hatch.

SCOTT "KIDD" POTEET, SPACEX ASTRONAUT: Space is literally right there as you open the hatch. And --

FISHER (voice-over): Scott "Kidd" Poteet is the mission's pilot, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and test pilot.

(On camera): So you've been wanting to go to space your whole life.

POTEET: Are you calling me old?

FISHER: No.

POTEET: I'm glad I have this crew.

FISHER (voice-over): Mission specialist, Sarah Gillis is SpaceX's lead astronaut trainer for all astronauts that fly on a Dragon. The final crew member is mission specialist and medical officer, Anna Menon, also a SpaceX employee whose life is now in the hands of her coworkers.

ANNA MENON, SPACEX ASTRONAUT: These are not just engineers, these are also my friends. So I know the people that are putting us on that rocket and supporting us from the ground, and I have just the utmost trust in every single one of them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Ten-second trivia. In which of these geographical locations would you find Australia?

Oceania, Siberia, Sub-Sahara, or the Caribbean?

Oceania is your answer here. Considered by some countries as a continent, it's the collective name for the islands scattered throughout the Pacific.


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