Polaris program
 | |
| Program overview | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Organization | SpaceX |
| Status | Active |
| Program history | |
| Duration | 2022–present |
| Launch site(s) | |
| Vehicle information | |
| Crewed vehicle(s) | |
| Launch vehicle(s) | |
The Polaris program is a private spaceflight program organized by entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. Building on his experience as commander of the Inspiration4 mission—the first all-civilian spaceflight—Isaacman contracted with SpaceX to create Polaris. The program involves two missions using SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and will culminate in a planned crewed flight on Starship.
Flights
| Mission name | Launch date | Launch vehicle | Spacecraft | Orbit | Crew | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polaris Dawn (Mission I) | Error: All values must be integers (help) UTC (5:23:49 am EDT) | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew Dragon (C207.3 Resilience) ♺ | LEO, 1,400 km (870 mi) max apogee[1][2] | In orbit | |
| Mission II | TBA | Falcon 9 Block 5 | Crew Dragon TBA | TBA |
|
Planned |
| Mission III | TBA | Starship | Starship | TBA |
|
Planned |
Polaris Dawn
The Polaris Dawn mission propelled Isaacman and his crew of three—Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon—to an elliptic orbit on 10 September 2024 that took them up to 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) away from Earth, the farthest anyone has been from the planet since NASA's Apollo program, so that they pass through parts of the Van Allen radiation belt to study the health effects of space radiation and spaceflight on the human body. Later in the mission, with a lower apogee, Isaacman and Gillis successfully completed the first commercial spacewalk.[2]
Mission II
Launching at a date and with a crew yet to be announced, the second mission in the Polaris Program will launch via a Falcon 9 Block 5 vehicle with a Crew Dragon capsule. The mission could potentially lift the Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit to prevent it from burning up in the atmosphere.[3][4]
Mission III
The third Polaris mission is set to be launched on Starship, SpaceX's next-generation launch system, "very far off in SpaceX’s future". Starship is in early flight testing as of September 2024 and is planned to carry crew only after Starship has made approximately 100 successful cargo flights.[5] This is to be the final flight of the Polaris Program.[6][7]
Extravehicular activities (EVAs)
| Start Date/Time | Duration | End Time | Spacecraft | Crew | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 September 2024 10:12 |
26 min[a][8] | 11:58 | Crew Dragon Resilience |  Jared Isaacman Sarah Gillis
|
Testing EVA capability of Dragon and a new suit designed by SpaceX. Isaacman left the capsule for 7 minutes 56 seconds followed by Gillis, who left the capsule for 7 minutes 15 seconds. The rest of the two crew members was exposed to the vacuum of space while being inside the capsule. First all private, four-person crew spacewalk, with commercially developed hardware, procedures, and the EVA suit.[9] |
See also
References
- ^ Foust, Jeff (11 December 2023). "Polaris Dawn rescheduled for April". SpaceNews. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
- ^ a b "Polaris Dawn". Polaris Dawn. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
- ^ Chang, Kenneth (29 September 2022). "NASA May Let Billionaire Astronaut and SpaceX Lift Hubble Telescope". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
- ^ NASA, SpaceX to Study Hubble Telescope Reboost Possibility, 22 December 2022, retrieved 8 May 2024.
- ^ Kurkowski, Seth (14 April 2024). "Polaris Dawn is getting closer and closer to being launch ready". Space Explored. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
- ^ Sheetz, Michael (14 February 2022). "Billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman buys more private SpaceX flights, including one on Starship". CNBC. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ Davenport, Christian. "Jared Isaacman, who led the first all-private astronaut mission to orbit, has commissioned 3 more flights from SpaceX". Washington Post. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
- ^ McDowell, Jonathan [@planet4589] (12 September 2024). "The hatch open/close time was about 26m 40s. Isaacman was outside hatch for 7 min 56m; Gillis for about 7m15s" (Tweet). Retrieved 12 September 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ "SpaceX Polaris Dawn astronauts perform historic 1st private spacewalk in orbit (video)". space.com. 12 September 2024. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
External links
- Official website
- Polaris Program photos on Flickr
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* denotes unflown vehicles or engines, and future missions or sites. † denotes failed missions, destroyed vehicles, and abandoned sites.
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