SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn: All-Civilian Crew Set to Break Spacewalk Records
A SpaceX capsule carrying four private citizens launched early Tuesday, September 10, on a groundbreaking five-day mission that will feature the first spacewalk by an all-civilian crew.
The mission, named Polaris Dawn, took off at 5:24 a.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission aims to send the crew to the highest orbital altitude achieved by humans since the last Apollo moon mission in 1972, reaching 870 miles above Earth’s surface—over three times higher than the International Space Station.
The Polaris Dawn mission is a fully private spaceflight operated by SpaceX on behalf of Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4. SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is an American spacecraft manufacturer founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk.
During their time in space, the crew will test new spacesuits and technologies designed to support future long-duration missions to the moon and eventually Mars.
The four-person crew includes billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4; retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet; and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. Isaacman, who funded and participated in the first all-civilian SpaceX mission to orbit in 2021, is also financing the Polaris Dawn mission in collaboration with SpaceX.
The crew traveled to orbit in a Crew Dragon capsule launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket.
Spacewalk
The historic spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday at 2:23 a.m. ET and will be streamed live by SpaceX, with a backup opportunity on Friday if needed.
During the spacewalk, Isaacman and Gillis are expected to exit the Crew Dragon spacecraft using a tether. Due to the spacecraft’s lack of a pressurized airlock, the entire capsule will be depressurized and exposed to vacuum conditions, requiring all four astronauts to wear and test newly designed spacesuits.
If successful, this spacewalk will mark a milestone, as previously only astronauts from government space agencies have ventured into space for tasks such as building or upgrading space stations, repairing satellites, and conducting scientific experiments.
Throughout the mission, the Crew Dragon capsule’s orbit will take it through the inner regions of the Van Allen radiation belt, a zone of high-energy radiation particles trapped by Earth’s magnetosphere.
Delayed Mission
The Polaris Dawn launch was initially planned for late August, but it was postponed after a helium leak was detected at the launch pad, then delayed again because of poor weather off the coast of Florida. The thrice-delayed Polaris Dawn crew were finally able to lift off early Tuesday.
