CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Polaris Dawn mission is set to launch Tuesday morning, marking a historical attempt at the first-ever commercial spacewalk.
The mission was delayed due to technological issues and weather conditions, but Space X said it is looking at Tuesday for the attempt from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch is set for 3:38 a.m. — there will be two additional opportunities at 5:23 a.m. and 7:09 a.m.
Polaris Dawn plans to not only orbit Earth higher than any astronauts have in more than 50 years but to also feature the first private spacewalk.
It will feature a four-person crew that will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket and travel in a SpaceX Dragon capsule named Resilience. They will test communications between the Dawn and Earth via Starlink satellites and complete almost 40 experiments designed to advance human health on Earth and long-duration spaceflight, according to Space X's website.
The crew consists of mission commander Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, a 20-year Air Force veteran pilot and SpaceX employees Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.
Polaris Dawn’s biggest task will be the spacewalk, which will test out SpaceX’s new extravehicular activity, or EVA, suits and learn about how they function in the low-gravity environment of space.
At its peak, Polaris Dawn plans to reach an orbit of more than 850 miles (1367 kilometers) from Earth. That’s more than twice the distance between Earth and the International Space Station, which orbits about 254 miles (408 km) up. It’ll also be the highest orbit humans have reached since the Apollo program sent astronauts around and to the Moon.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
