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SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission is set to break new ground this week with the first-ever private spacewalk, a feat previously achieved only by astronauts from government space agencies. During the mission, which starts on August 27 at 3:38 a.m. ET (0738 GMT) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two of the four crew members will step out of their Crew Dragon capsule while in orbit around Earth. This spacewalk will be a key test for SpaceX’s new spacesuits. Since the capsule does not have an airlock, it will be fully depressurized, so all crew members will depend on their suits for survival. The mission is planned to last six days, with the spacewalk happening on the third day. Jared Isaacman Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments, is leading the Polaris Dawn mission. He will be one of the two astronauts doing the spacewalk along with Sarah Gillis. Isaacman is funding the mission through his Polaris program, although he hasn’t revealed the total cost, which is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. This will be his second space mission, following the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission in 2021. He has two more missions planned, one on Crew Dragon and another on SpaceX’s Starship, but the details for these are not yet announced. Sarah Gillis Gillis, a senior space operations engineer at SpaceX , will serve as a mission specialist on the Polaris Dawn mission. She began her career at SpaceX as an intern in 2015 and has since been involved in training NASA astronauts for multiple missions. She holds an engineering degree from the University of Colorado Boulder. Scott Poteet Poteet, the mission pilot for Polaris Dawn, has a 20-year background in the U.S. Air Force with over 3,200 flight hours, including flying the F-16 fighter jet. He was previously the Mission Director for the Inspiration4 mission. In addition to piloting, he will help with the spacewalk and coordinate with mission control. He worked as vice president of strategy at Shift4 Payments until 2022. Anna Menon Menon is the mission specialist and medical officer for the Polaris Dawn mission. She manages crew operations at SpaceX and will ensure the health and safety of the astronauts during the mission. Menon, who has a Master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University, will monitor the crew’s health and provide medical care if needed. She is married to Anil Menon, a NASA astronaut-in-training and former SpaceX flight surgeon. (With Reuters Inputs) None
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