
SpaceX is about to make history with its new mission that will fly four private astronauts farther than any human has flown since the Apollo era.
The spacecraft will be launched today (September 10), the Polaris Dawn mission will conduct not only the first-ever commercial spacewalk but also fly to an altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometres) to set a record and push the limits of private human spaceflight.
SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission details
The crew will lift off from SpaceX's Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, the same pad that supported all the crewed Apollo missions to the moon.
Isaacman, an American entrepreneur and pilot, who is funding the mission, will be joined on the flight by retired United States Air Force (USAF) Lieutenant Colonel Scott "Kidd" Poteet, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
The SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission crew will spend several days in space, conducting several scientific experiments and testing new EVA suits designed by SpaceX.
This mission will take the crew through a portion of the radiation belts wrapped around Earth, thus enabling their examination of the deep-space radiation environment.
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The four-person crew members of the SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission include two female mission specialists, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon who will become the highest-flown women in history, after the previous altitude record set by NASA astronaut Kathryn Sullivan.
Crew members will also step aboard the world's first commercial spacewalk to test the functionality and mobility of the new SpaceX suits.
The mission Polaris Dawn is part of Isaacman's "Polaris Program" aimed at advancing private human space exploration, with the added goal of raising funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Moreover, with the Polaris Dawn mission, SpaceX is set to prove its capabilities in taking humans up further into space and conducting complex spacewalks.
Space X Polaris Dawn mission launch date and time
The launch window for the Space X Polaris Dawn mission opens at 3:38am Eastern Time (ET) today (September 10), with backup opportunities on Wednesday, September 11.