SpaceX's historic Polaris Dawn Astronaut Mission likely to launch on August 26

Image showing a Polaris Dawn astronaut performing the first-ever private spacewalk. (Image: SpaceX)

SpaceX has set August 26 as the earliest possible launch date for Polaris Dawn, which will include the first-ever private spacewalk. The Polaris Dawn team announced this update on August 7 via X (formerly Twitter), providing a clearer timeline for the mission, which was originally scheduled for mid-August.

We are targeting no earlier than August 26 for the launch of Polaris Dawn pic.twitter.com/tkkiRke64a

Story continues below Advertisement

Remove Ad

— Polaris (@PolarisProgram) August 7, 2024

Polaris Dawn will send four astronauts to Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket. The crew includes billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who will lead the mission; Scott "Kidd" Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel serving as pilot; and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX engineers.

The mission will not dock with the International Space Station (ISS) but will orbit Earth at an altitude of about 435 miles (700 kilometres), taking the crew farther from Earth than any mission since the Apollo era. In addition to the historic spacewalk, Polaris Dawn will be the first of three crewed missions in the Polaris Program, all using SpaceX hardware. Isaacman, who also funded and commanded the Inspiration4 mission in September 2021, will lead all three Polaris flights.

Originally scheduled for 2022, the launch of Polaris Dawn has been delayed several times due to the mission's complex and pioneering nature.

Currently, SpaceX is operating its Crew-8 mission, which has had four astronauts in orbit at the ISS since March. The Crew-8 team will soon return to Earth, making way for the Crew-9 astronauts, who are set to launch towards the ISS on September 24.