Polaris Dawn commander Jared Isaacman during a spacesuit test.
John Krauss / The Polaris Program
SpaceX is preparing to launch its next private mission by the end of this month, which will be its first attempt to send astronauts into space.
Polaris Dawn Mission — Billionaires and Shift 4 The rocket for the crewed spaceflight program known as Project Polaris, which founder Jared Isaacman bought from SpaceX in 2022, is scheduled to lift off from Florida in the early hours of August 26.
“We can’t decide the launch time freely, [be] “It’s pretty close to dawn, which is very appropriate given the mission,” Isaacman said in an interview with CNBC’s Investing in Space last month.
Isaacman will be in command of the mission, just as he did when he led the historic Inspiration 4 flight in 2021. He will again lead a four-person crew, with longtime colleague Scott Poteat joining him as pilot, and SpaceX employees Anna Menon and Sara Gillis serving as the flight’s medical director and mission specialist, respectively.
The multi-day journey won’t be a destination-specific one, but rather a free-flight mission on an orbit that will hopefully take the crew far from Earth.
“We will be reaching much higher altitudes than any human has reached in over 50 years,” Isaacman said.
Polaris Dawn crew members, from left: Anna Menon, Scott Poteat, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis.
SpaceX
But the highlight of Polaris Dawn will be its planned spacewalks.
Extravehicular activities (EVAs) have been a routine part of NASA astronaut missions for years, such as when the space agency needs to perform maintenance outside the International Space Station, but no private company has ever attempted an EVA until now.
Isaacman said he knew the spacewalk would mean he and his crew would be “surrounded by death,” which is why they had trained so extensively.
“The only thing that comes close to this is a vacuum chamber, which gives you almost the exact sensation of being in a vacuum or in space. … You can actually feel the pressure changes, the temperature changes and the psychological stress of being in a very hostile environment,” Isaacman said.
Five-day mission planning
The Polaris Dawn mission crew, from left: Medical Officer Anna Menon, Pilot Scott Poteat, Commander Jared Isaacman and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis.
Polaris Program / John Krauss
Isaacman also detailed Polaris Dawn’s daily schedule, which will remain in space for up to five days.
The first day will be all about finding the time when the risk from micrometeorite orbital debris is minimal, which will determine the exact time for Polaris Dawn to launch. After reaching the 190-kilometer by 1,200-kilometer orbit, the crew will conduct a thorough checkout of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft Resilience, Isaacman said.
“It’s really important to make sure there are no defects in the aircraft before we go up to an altitude of 1,400 kilometers,” Isaacman said.
The spacecraft also traveled through what are known as high radiation zones. South Atlantic Anomaly.
“Ideally we want to get as low as possible because even at 200 kilometres (125 miles) the radiation levels are quite high,” Isaacman said. “Two or three high-altitude passes through the South Atlantic Anomaly will account for nearly the entire radiation load of the mission, equivalent to three months on the International Space Station.”
The second day will focus on some of the scientific research Polaris Dawn plans to accomplish, with a total of about 40 experiments. The crew will also prepare for the spacewalk and test their spacewalk suits.
“That way we can make sure there’s nothing unexpected happening in microgravity compared to what we’ve been able to test on Earth,” Isaacman said.
Day 3 is the big day – spacewalk.
Spacewalk
So who on the crew will be doing the spacewalk?
“It’s fair to say that all four of us are working together. There’s no airlock, there’s a vacuum inside the spacecraft,” Isaacman said.
Two of the crew members (Isaacman and Gillis) will travel outside of Dragon, while Poteet and Menon will remain on board as support.
The spacewalk is expected to last two hours from start to finish, and Isaacman stressed that it’s “really a test and development” process.
“We want to learn as much as we can about the spacesuit and its operation, but there is a finite amount of oxygen and nitrogen available,” Isaacman said.
Polaris Dawn will livestream the spacewalk, and mission commanders stressed that there will be “multiple cameras” inside and outside the capsule.
Brand new space suit
SpaceX’s extravehicular activity (EVA) suit during a test on June 24, 2024.
John Krauss / The Polaris Program
A key piece of equipment that makes EVA possible is SpaceX’s spacesuit.
For the past few years, the company has been using its minimalist, black-and-white IVA suits (Internal Vehicle Activity suits, or IVA suits worn by astronauts in emergencies) to develop its EVA suits, which Isaacman said are the result of hundreds of hours of testing different materials over the years.
“So our main goal is to learn as much as we can about the suit,” Isaacman said.
“It’s all about building the next generation of spacesuits. We continue to refine the design of this suit so that SpaceX can manufacture hundreds and thousands of suits in the future for operations on the Moon, Mars and in space. [low Earth orbit]”, and many more. Building a new spacewalk suit is no easy task,” he added.
Polaris Dawn medical specialist Anna Menon during a spacesuit test.
John Krauss / The Polaris Program
Polaris Dawn aims to push the boundaries of private spaceflight, and Isaacman hopes the mission will be inspiring, just like his first orbital flight.
“That’s the inspiration aspect. Anything that’s different from what we’ve seen in the last 20 or 30 years excites people and makes them think, ‘If this is what I’m seeing today, what will it be like tomorrow or a year from now?'”
Read Isaacman’s Q&A with CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter here.
