SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission is set to create history this week with the inaugural spacewalk managed privately, a high-risk venture that has previously been the domain of government astronauts only. Two members of the four-person crew will exit their Crew Dragon capsule while in Earth's orbit for a tethered spacewalk, marking a significant test of SpaceX's new spacesuits. The capsule does not feature an airlock and will fully depressurize for the spacewalk, necessitating all four crew members to depend on their suits for survival. The mission, slated for launch at 0738 GMT on August 27 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is anticipated to span six days, with the spacewalk scheduled for the third day.
Here's an overview of the astronauts involved: JARED ISAACMAN Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments and an experienced pilot, is leading the Polaris Dawn mission and will be one of the two crew members, alongside Sarah Gillis, to conduct the spacewalk outside the capsule. He is funding the mission through his Polaris program, though he has not revealed the total cost, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. This mission marks his second venture into space, following his leadership of the first all-civilian Inspiration4 mission to orbit Earth in 2021, which he organized and primarily funded in collaboration with SpaceX. Following Polaris Dawn, Isaacman has planned two more missions under the Polaris program—another flight on Crew Dragon and a subsequent flight on Starship, SpaceX's next-generation rocket currently in development. He has not yet announced crewmates or dates for these flights.
SARAH GILLIS Gillis, who has trained astronauts, is now embarking on her own journey as an astronaut. She earned her engineering degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, started as an intern at SpaceX in 2015, and is now the company's senior space operations engineer. Her duties include training astronauts on safety and flight operations. As the mission specialist for Polaris Dawn, Gillis has trained NASA astronauts for various operations, including Dragon missions Demo-2 and Crew-1, and the Inspiration4 mission in 2021.
SCOTT POTEET Poteet, the pilot for the Polaris Dawn mission, served in the US Air Force for 20 years, accumulating over 3,200 flight hours in various aircraft, including the F-16 fighter jet. His involvement in the private space sector began as the Mission Director for the Inspiration4 mission. Poteet's role in the latest mission extends beyond piloting the spacecraft to include assisting with the spacewalk, providing communication support, and collaborating with mission control. He was the vice-president of strategy at Isaacman's Shift4 company until 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to 2020, he was a business development director at Draken International, founded by Isaacman, before selling a majority stake in the firm to Blackstone in 2019.
ANNA MENON Menon serves as a mission specialist and medical officer for the program and is a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX, where she oversees the development of crew operations, ensuring procedures and protocols are established for astronauts during their missions. The former NASA biomedical flight controller will be responsible for the crew's health and well-being during the Polaris Dawn mission, monitoring their physiological responses and providing medical care as needed. She holds a Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University. Menon is married to Anil Menon, a former SpaceX flight surgeon who is now a NASA astronaut-in-training.
