- This article is about the space station. For the accident, see Polaris hotel disaster. For the space tourism company, see Polaris Space Tours. For the shuttle, see Polaris shuttle. For the episode of season 3, see Polaris (episode).
We're already sending folks up in space, we might as well give them some place to sleep.
Sam Cleveland, in Season 3, Episode 1, "Polaris"
Polaris was a space station in Earth's orbit planned to serve as a hotel. It was constructed between 1990 and 1992 and planned to open in August 1992. Due to a disastrous accident during its soft opening a few weeks earlier, the project could never reach its planned purpose.
The damaged station was then bought by Helios Aerospace, who converted it into the command and habitation module of their spacecraft Phoenix.[1] In the late 1990s, it became a space station again, serving as a transfer station in Martian orbit, still under the name Phoenix.[2]
History[]
The station was operated by Polaris Space Tours, a space tourism company founded by Sam Cleveland and Karen Baldwin in the mid 80s.[3] The two space tourism pioneers unveiled their plans on building an own space station in 1990.[4] Before that, they were already carrying paying customers to low Earth orbitW with their own spaceplane Polaris 1 since early 1987.[3]
By mid 1992, the station was built and ready for operation. Polaris consisted of a spinning habitation ring around a central hub, providing artificial spin gravityW for its guests and crew. The rotating ring consisted of a continuous hallway with 4 elevators to the hub and modules attached to the side facing Earth. These modules were used for the guest rooms and other hotel facilities, as well as for the flight deck, the control room of the station. The hub was where the shuttles docked, and also featured a zero-G activity dome. The hotel offered features like a restaurant & event room with bar, 2 cafés, room service, and a fitness center.[4]
On July 17, 1992, a few weeks before its official opening, the hotel hosted the wedding of Danny and Amber Stevens, which was also supposed to serve as a test run for the hotel. Among the guests were Ed Baldwin and Danielle Poole with their new partners, as well as Danny's brother Jimmy.[4]
Space debris accident[]
- Main article: Polaris hotel disaster
During the wedding, an orbital thruster was damaged by debris of a North Korean rocket, causing the station to rotate faster and therefore increasing the gravity levels. After two technicians were killed trying to make repairs, evacuation of the station was ordered. However, after one of the elevators malfunctioned due to the higher gravity, killing Sam Cleveland, they were all shut down. As the gravity still continued to increase, Danny decided to go for an EVA to try to manually close the thruster's valve, as it would be impossible for the guests to escape through ladders with the gravity getting close to 3 G. He managed to do so just as the gravity started to exceed 4 G, the station's maximum tolerance.[4]
Following the disaster and the three deaths that occurred, the hotel was shut down and scheduled to be deconstructed and sold for scrap. However, the company Helios Aerospace offered Karen to purchased the hotel. Helios intended to add engines to the station and turning it into their spacecraft Phoenix for their planned mission to Mars.[1]
Personnel[]
Technical operation[]
- Rich LaPorte (Commander)
- Joaquin Asencio † (Controller, Technician)
- Cy Reed † (Technician)
- Whitney (Controller)
- John (Controller)
- Steven (Controller)
- + additional technical personnel
- at least 2 shuttle pilots
Hotel staff[]
- Karen Baldwin (Manager)
- All kind of usual hotel staff, like hostesses, stewards, cooks, bartenders, and a DJ.
Gallery[]
Space station[]
![Polaris schematics, indicating that the wheel spins at 3.5 RPM [Note 2]](/wiki/File:Polaris_early_concept_1.jpg "Polaris early concept 1.jpg (1.47 MB)")
Flight deck[]
Hotel[]
Notes[]
See also[]
External links[]
Rotating wheel space station on Wikipedia
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 For All Mankind TV Series - Season 3, Episode 2: "Game Changer"
- ↑ For All Mankind TV Series - Season 4
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bonus Video: Another Giant Leap: 1984-1992 - Polaris Space Tours (1986)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 For All Mankind TV Series - Season 3, Episode 1: "Polaris"