The long-awaited Polaris Dawn mission is almost ready for takeoff.
SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, is now targeting August 26 for the launch of its historic astronaut mission, according to an update posted to the Polaris Program’s social media. Polaris Dawn, which is being funded and spearheaded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, will lift off at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida using a Falcon 9 rocket and send four people to Earth’s orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The program’s official account on X (formerly known as Twitter) announced the date on Wednesday, along with pictures of the crew members, including pilot and retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott “Kidd” Poteet, mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, and Isaacman. During the mission, the Polaris team will spend five days in Earth’s orbit and hopefully set the record for the highest Earth orbit ever flown. In addition, the crew will be conducting scientific experiments, testing Starlink laser-based communications, and partaking in the first commercial astronaut spacewalk.
The launch date of Polaris Dawn has already been postponed several times since the program was initially announced in February 2022. Most recently, it was slated for no later than July 31. The delays were reportedly due to the need for new EVA spacesuits that would ensure the crew’s safety. Back in May, SpaceX unveiled the design, which includes a 3-D-printed helmet with a visor to reduce glare, a heads-up display, and a built-in camera that gives the wearer information on the suit’s pressure levels, temperature, and humidity. The suit also has added features such asa seals and pressure valves to support extravehicular activities.
“The development of this suit and the execution of the spacewalk will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions as life becomes multiplanetary,” the company wrote on its website at the time.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions that Isaacman has planned. The billionaire previously flew to space in 2021 during SpaceX’s all-civilian Inspiration4 mission, which helped raise $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “Inspiration4 and now the Polaris program missions are very small steps in the direction of opening this last great frontier,” he told People in May. “There is so much we stand to learn . . . The answers are out there and so much more. We just need to get out there and explore. Who knows what we may find.”
Authors
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Abby Montanez
