A private space mission that aims to complete the first civilian spacewalk is expected to launch this week. Active SpaceX said it is targeting Aug. 27 at 3:38 a.m. ET for liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the Polaris Dawn crew into orbit. Polaris Dawn, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, plans to send its crew of four private citizens 870 miles from Earth — the farthest any human has traveled since the Apollo program. The spacewalk, in which two of the crew members will step outside the SpaceX Dragon capsule, will take place 435 miles above Earth.
The Polaris Dawn crew includes Shift4 CEO Isaacman as commander, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet as pilot, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon as mission specialists. Menon will also act as a medical officer. The mission is expected to last about five days.
Although only two crew members leave the spacecraft during flight, all will be exposed to the vacuum of space when the hatch is opened – the Dragon capsule does not have an airlock. This will be a critical test for SpaceX’s new Extravehicular Activity spacesuits, which the entire Polaris Dawn crew will have to wear to keep them safe. in an interview with Before the mission, Menon said the suits had been extensively tested on the ground and he was confident of their performance. “We absolutely know that the suits can put pressure there,” Menon said, adding that the team “has spent a lot of time putting pressure on the suits at this point.”
Polaris Dawn will also test Starlink laser-based communications in space for the first time and collect data to support research into the human health effects of spaceflight. The mission has been several years in the making and is the first of three planned Polaris spaceflights.
