Houston, TX: The highly anticipated launch date for the first commercial spaceflight mission featuring a spacewalk has been officially set. Polaris Dawn, a crucial part of a privately funded human spaceflight program led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, is scheduled to launch no earlier than July 31. This groundbreaking mission was announced by project representatives on July 3.
Polaris Dawn is a monumental endeavor that will involve a private spacewalk, utilizing custom SpaceX spacesuits specially designed for this mission. The crew will also conduct a series of experiments during their journey, with Polaris Dawn’s orbit reaching approximately 435 miles above Earth – marking one of the highest-altitude crewed flights since the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and 1970s. By comparison, the International Space Station orbits at around 250 miles.
This mission is just the beginning of a series of three missions under the Polaris Program, all spearheaded and financed by Jared Isaacman. Previously, Isaacman oversaw the successful all-civilian Inspiration4 launch in September 2021, which raised $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. With the Polaris missions, Isaacman aims to continue supporting charitable causes.
In addition to Isaacman, the crew for Polaris Dawn includes retired United States Air Force (USAF) Lieut. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet as pilot, along with mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX operations engineers. The complexity of the mission has led to several delays during its development, with the most recent delay pushing the projected April launch date to summer 2024.
“The additional time continues to provide necessary developmental time to ensure both the completion of these mission goals and a safe launch and return of Dragon and the crew,” stated the Polaris Program in a recent update. The training schedule for the crew has been evolving as well, emphasizing the importance of preparing for various stressful environments and situations that may arise during the mission.