SpaceX chief Elon Musk said on Sunday that the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission will be “epic.”
The highly anticipated mission is targeting Monday, August 26, for liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, powering four non-professional astronauts to orbit.
Rather than docking with the International Space Station (ISS), the Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying the adventurers will instead orbit Earth for several days. In fact, the spacecraft will orbit about 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Earth, taking it around 185 miles (298 kilometers) higher than the ISS and considerably higher than any Crew Dragon has ever traveled.
But what’s getting Musk particularly excited is the mission’s plan to perform the first-ever commercial spacewalk.
It will be carried out by two crew members: Mission commander Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of payment-processing firm Shift4 and funder of Polaris Dawn; and Sarah Gillis, a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX. During the walk, the pair will test out an all-new spacesuit designed specifically for such extravehicular activities (EVAs).
“Building a base on the moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of spacesuits,” SpaceX said. “The development of this suit and the execution of the EVA will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions.”
Also traveling aboard the Crew Dragon as part of the four-person crew will be Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and former colleague of Isaacman at Shift4, and Anna Menon, a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX. While three of the crew members will be heading to orbit for the first time, for Isaacman this will be his second trip following the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission in 2021.
The voyage will also involve the first crewed test of Starlink laser-based communications in space, an endeavor that’s expected to provide useful data for future space communications systems necessary for missions to the moon and beyond. Additionally, the crew will carry out scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and scientists’ understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflights.
SpaceX will live stream the launch and various parts of the mission. Digital Trends will share more detailed information on how to watch as soon as it becomes available.
