The first commercial spaceflight mission with spacewalk now has a launch date.
Polaris Dawnpart of a private space program funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, will not launch before July 31, project representatives announced in a brief statement today (July 3) on X. Isaacman and SpaceX founder and director Elon Muskwhose company will supply the Polaris Dawn Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket, have not yet posted any statements on social media.
The crew plans to offer the first-ever private experience space walk with custom-made SpaceX spacesuits made specifically for the endeavor, along with a suite of experiments. Polaris Dawn’s orbit will take the mission about 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Soil, in the highest manned flight since Apollo Moon missions of the 1960s and 1970s. For comparison: the International Space Station orbits at a distance of approximately 400 km.
Polaris Dawn will be the first of a trio of missions for the Polaris Programall funded and directed by Isaacman. The founder of Shift4 also led and funded the all-civilian Inspiration4 launch in September 2021, raising $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee; Isaacman plans to continue that support with the Polaris missions.
Related: How SpaceX’s private astronauts Polaris Dawn will undertake the first-ever ‘all-civilian’ spacewalk
In addition to Isaacman, the mission also includes retired U.S. Air Force (USAF) Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet as pilot and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX operations engineers.
According to project officials, the complexity of the mission caused delays during development, from its original launch date of late 2022. The most recent major delay in February 2024 pushed the planned April launch back to the summer.
“The additional time provides the necessary development time to ensure both the completion of these mission objectives and the safe launch and return of Dragon and crew,” the Polaris program said at the time via X.
The training schedule has also evolved, Poteet pointed out in a Discussion about “Spaces” on X on May 4. “We’ve really continued what NASA has been doing for generations, which is identifying environments and situations that are stressful,” he said, noting that part of the work involved learning where teammates are performing well and where they might need help.