Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. Space News

Watch SpaceX’s trailer for highly anticipated Polaris Dawn mission

By
The Polaris Dawn Crew Dragon spacecraft as it will look in orbit.
How the Polaris Dawn spacewalk might look. SpaceX

SpaceX has just released a trailer for the Polaris Dawn mission that will involve the first-ever commercial spacewalk.

The spaceflight company is targeting Tuesday, August 27, for the launch of the mission, which will also see a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft fly to its highest-ever orbit.

Recommended Videos

The 70-second video (below) shows the four crew members — Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis, and Anna Menon — preparing for their upcoming adventure, with some of the footage captured from inside the Crew Dragon that will be taking them to space.

Related

Targeting Tuesday, August 27 for launch of Polaris Dawn, the first of the @PolarisProgram’s three human spaceflight missions designed to advance the future of spaceflight pic.twitter.com/w6QF3jBLqt

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 21, 2024

The five-day mission will be led by Isaacman, the billionaire businessman who first flew to orbit as part of the all-civilian Inspiration4 mission in 2021. The other three crew members will be heading to orbit for the first time.

The much-anticipated spacewalk will take place around 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Earth, the highest altitude ever reached by a Crew Dragon. This will take it around 185 miles (298 kilometers) above the International Space Station (ISS), which is the destination for most Crew Dragon flights as part of crew rotation operations aboard the orbital laboratory. The spacewalk will be used to confirm the functionality of new spacesuits that offer more flexibility and movement than the bulkier designs long used by astronauts on the ISS.

During their time in orbit, the Polaris Dawn crew will also carry out various science research, and become the first crew to test a Starlink laser-based communications system that’s expected to be used for future crewed missions in deep space.

SpaceX also shared a number of images on Wednesday, showing the crew and also the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from where the mission will launch.

Our daily quarantine routine includes running around LC-39A—where so many historic missions launched. Yesterday, we checked in on our booster, 2nd stage & Dragon. We also signed our flight-proven hardware—a cool experience unique to @SpaceX’s reusable tech. Without it, missions… https://t.co/0j6nGSSXh2 pic.twitter.com/nFpihTCKbE

— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) August 21, 2024

Shortly thereafter, Dragon arrived at our hangar at pad 39A ahead of Falcon 9’s launch of Polaris Dawn pic.twitter.com/HdNYlXCPnQ

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 21, 2024

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to watch SpaceX launch private Fram2 mission tonight
SpaceX's Fram2 crew, set for launch in March 2025.

SpaceX is about to launch its first private human spaceflight mission in nearly seven months.

The mission, set to lift off on Monday evening, will use a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft to send four civilians into a polar orbit, in what will be a first for a human spaceflight mission.

Read more
Watch this SpaceX rival launch its third mission in two weeks
Rocket Lab launches an Electron rocket.

New Zealand-based Rocket Lab has launched its third satellite-deployment mission in two weeks, marking a new record for the up-and-coming SpaceX rival.

The Finding Hot Wildfires Near You mission lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Pad B, in Mahia, New Zealand, on Wednesday local time.

Read more
It’s not aliens, it’s just SpaceX: scientists figure out strange spiral in the sky
spiral in the sky spacex falcon 9 gm1zltqxcaa9pia

A strange swirl in the sky seen over much of Britain and Europe this week wasn't the result of alien activity but rather a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The UK's Met Office, which monitors weather conditions in Britain, announced that the striking vision seen overhead was not a cause for concern but the result of a rocket launch.

"We've received many reports of an illuminated swirl in the sky this evening," the Met Office wrote on X, sharing various images of the swirl. "This is likely to be caused by the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launched earlier today. The rocket's frozen exhaust plume appears to be spinning in the atmosphere and reflecting the sunlight, causing it to appear as a spiral in the sky"

Read more