SpaceX is preparing to launch four people into orbit Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket. The all-civilian crew will embark on a five-day mission that includes a risky spacewalk.
The mission is called Polaris Dawn and it will take the crew of four in their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to an altitude of 870 miles above Earth, setting a record for highest human orbit. The mission is bankrolled in part by billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. He’s commanding this mission, much like he did for SpaceX’s Inspiration4, the first all-private space mission.
The four hour launch window opens Tuesday at 3:38 a.m. ET.
Polaris Dawn will push the envelope when it comes to privately-funded missions. The crew will perform a spacewalk, a first for a commercial mission. Crew Dragon doesn't have an airlock, so the entire crew will put on their space suits as the SpaceX capsule depressurizes. The hatch will open and two crewmembers will venture outside the vehicle.
Isaacman said this is the riskiest part of the mission “because you're throwing away all the safety of your vehicle, right? And it now comes down to your suit, becomes your spaceship.”
Those spacesuits were designed specifically for this mission, with the help of the Polaris Dawn crew, and this will be the first time they’re used.
“Whatever risks associated,” with the space walk and new suits, said Isaacman, “it is worth it. We have no idea what it could do to really -- change the trajectory of humankind.”
Polaris Dawn is piloted by Kid Poteet, a retired Air Force pilot who served as mission director of the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission. SpaceX employees Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis will serve as mission specialists, with Gillis leaving the capsule with Isaacman during the spacewalk.
“Working at SpaceX gives me a tremendous amount of confidence going to space,” said Menon. “I see the way they do development, I see the way they handle risks, handle change, handle every piece of the mission, and that just gives me tremendous confidence going forward.”
The crew will also test out orbital communication using Starlink, SpaceX’s space-based internet service. Polaris Dawn’s participants will also conduct 36 science experiments -- including some on themselves -- to test the effects of space travel on humans.
This mission is SpaceX’s fifth commercial flight carrying humans, all launching from Florida’s Space Coast.
Isscaman did not disclose how much the trip costs.
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