SpaceX targets August 26 for historic Polaris Dawn mission
SpaceX has announced a target launch date of August 26 for the Polaris Dawn mission, which will see four civilian astronauts journey to an orbit approximately 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Earth. This mission, funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, will feature the first-ever private spacewalk. The crew will consist of Isaacman, pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. Polaris Dawn is part of a broader Polaris Program and aims to gather scientific data on the effects of spaceflight and radiation on human health.
The mission will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket. This flight will surpass the altitude of the International Space Station (ISS) by 185 miles and mark the farthest distance from Earth a crewed mission has achieved since the Apollo era. The team will also test new extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits and conduct various scientific experiments during the five-day mission.
In addition to Polaris Dawn, SpaceX is preparing for the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM), set to launch in 2024 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This mission, delayed from its original July 2024 date, will deploy two satellites to provide mobile broadband coverage in the Arctic. The satellites will carry communications payloads for the Norwegian Ministry of Defense, the U.S. Space Force, and Inmarsat, and will support the Enhanced Polar System Recapitalization (EPS-R) program.
