Jared Issacman Announces the SpaceX Polaris Human Exploration Program

The crew of Polaris DAWN at Starbase, from left: Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, Jared Issacman, and Sarah Gillis | Credit: Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post

On Monday, February 14, Jared Issacman, the commander of the Inspiration4 mission last September, announced the Polaris program. The Polaris program is planned to be a series of three missions demonstrating new SpaceX spaceflight technologies culminating with the first crewed flight of Starship. The first two missions will be with Falcon 9/Dragon and the last will be with Starship. The first mission, named Polaris DAWN, is planned to launch no earlier than the fourth quarter of 2022. This mission will have a number of firsts. First, it will have the first commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk. SpaceX is developing their own spacesuit derived from their intravehicular activity (IVA) spacesuit designed for protecting the crew during launch and reentry. Since building bases on the Moon and Mars will require thousands of spacesuits, a spacesuit needs to be designed that can built faster and put on quicker. This spacesuit will be a big step for that. Next, this flight will be the highest Earth orbit a crew has ever flown, attempting to break the Gemini XI record. This orbit will go through parts of the Van Allen radiation belt, studying the effects of radiation on astronauts. And last, this mission will be the first to use a new communications system in space, SpaceX's Starlink internet with laser systems. This mission is planned to last up to five days. During this time, the crew will also do experiments studying human health on Earth and health for astronauts on long-duration space missions. This will also mark the first time SpaceX uses their own astronauts on a mission. The crew of Polaris DAWN is:

- Jared Issacman, Commander of Polaris DAWN and 2021's Inspiration4 mission. He is also founder of Shift4 Payments and a jet pilot.

- Scott Poteet, Pilot of Polaris DAWN. He is a former US Air Force Lieutenant-Clonel and an accomplished jet pilot.

- Sarah Gillis, Mission Specialist. She is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX and oversees SpaceX's astronaut training programs. She has also served as a Dragon crew communicator (CORE).

- Anna Menon, Mission Specialist and Medical Officer. She is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX and manages the development of crew operations. She also serves in Mission Control as both a Mission Director and crew communicator (CORE).

Logo of Polaris DAWN | Credit: Polaris Program