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SpaceX’s upcoming Polaris Dawn mission is set to make history by reaching an altitude above Earth, that no crewed spacecraft has achieved since the Apollo era.
The privately-funded expedition, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, aims to ascend approximately 1,400km into space.
This venture will also mark the first private spacewalk ever conducted. The launch is scheduled for August 27.
Women engineers to break spaceflight altitude record
The Polaris Dawn mission’s four-person crew will include two female specialists, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both engineers at SpaceX.
Their journey is set to surpass the previous record held by NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, who reached an altitude of 621km during the STS-31 mission in 1990.
The STS-31 mission’s primary objective was to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope, which required reaching such extreme altitudes.
Aim to surpass Gemini 11’s record
The highest mission in Earth orbit was Gemini 11 in September 1966, with NASA astronauts Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon reaching a pre-Apollo altitude record of 1,368km.
The Polaris Dawn mission aims to surpass this record.
The launch date for the mission was initially set for August 26 but has been postponed to no earlier than August 27, following the crew’s arrival in Florida for final pre-mission preparations.
Polaris Dawn to conduct first all-civilian spacewalk
The Polaris Dawn mission will also feature the first all-civilian spacewalk, another historic milestone.
The launch is set to take place from Launch Complex-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
The four-hour launch window opens Tuesday (August 27) at 3:38am EDT (1:08pm IST), marking the beginning of a five-day mission that includes this unprecedented event.
Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
