- This article is about the space station. For the episode with the same name, see Polaris (episode).
Polaris is an orbital hotel founded by Sam Cleveland and Karen Baldwin. Its features include a fitness center, cafes, room service, and artifical gravity.
History
During Danny Stevens' wedding, Polaris' orbital thrusters are damaged by the debris of a North Korean rocket, causing Polaris to rotate faster and increasing the gravity levels. Though Sam tries to keep it quiet, after the two astronauts were killed trying to make repairs, he and Karen announce the evacuation plans. While Sam is escorting guests through the elevators, the gravity forces his elevator to crash, instantly killing him. As the gravity levels continue to increase rapidly, Danny goes on an unauthorised EVA to repair the thrusters, which he manages to do just as the hotel barely exceeds 4.0 gravity levels, which was its maximum G tolerance.
Following the disaster and the three deaths that occoured, the hotel was shut down and scheduled to be deconstructed and sold for scrap, before the company Helios Aerospace purchased the hotel. Helios intended to add engines to the craft, turning it into the Phoenix for the 1994 Mars transfer window, a full two years before the planned NASA and Soviet Mars missions, which were accelerated in response to this announcement.
