Early Tuesday, Sept. 10, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, four private astronauts, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, embarked on a landmark space mission aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. The SpaceX mission, dubbed Polaris Dawn, is set to reach an unprecedented altitude of 870 miles above Earth — the highest since the Apollo moon missions.
The mission is scheduled for five days and is designed to test cutting-edge spacesuit technologies and conduct the first wholly commercial spacewalk at an altitude of 435 miles.
This spacewalk will be notable because it will occur without professional astronauts and without an airlock. Instead, the spacecraft’s entire cabin will be depressurized to accommodate the walk.
Isaacman, joined by a retired military fighter pilot and two seasoned SpaceX engineers, successfully reached orbit approximately nine minutes post-lift-off. The launch faced several delays due to a helium leak and subsequent regulatory challenges surrounding booster recovery.
During its orbit, the team will undertake 36 scientific studies in collaboration with 31 partner institutions. These studies aim to investigate the effects of space conditions on human health, vital for the planning of future long-duration spaceflights and potential missions to Mars.
