SpaceX set for first ever private spacewalk

Polaris Dawn mission will take astronauts further from Earth than any human has been in more than 50 years

The four-person crew of the Polaris Dawn mission will launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, 27 August, 2024 (Polaris/ SpaceX)

SpaceX is less than 24 hours away from the launch of a ground-breaking mission that will attempt the world’s first private spacewalk.

The Polaris Dawn mission is set to lift off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:38 am local time (8:38 am BST) on Tuesday, with two additional backup launch times on that date if needed.

SpaceX said the Polaris Dawn mission is “designed to advance the future of spaceflight”, taking the crew further from Earth than any human has travelled for more than 50 years.

“During their multi-day mission to orbit, Dragon and the crew will endeavour to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown since the Apollo program,” the private space company states in its mission objectives.

“This will also be the first time two SpaceX employees will be part of a human spaceflight crew, providing valuable insight to future missions on the road to making life multiplanetary.”

The mission will be led by US billionaire Jared Isaacman, who is personally financing the endeavour having previously flown to space in 2021 on another self-funded mission that took four people with no prior spaceflight experience on a three-day orbit of Earth.

The new mission will be even more bold, as the crew of private citizens will attempt to be the first non-government astronauts to enter the vacuum of space.

“We will happily take an extra day to ensure readiness,” Mr Isaacman wrote on X after SpaceX announced the new Polaris Dawn launch date.

Neither SpaceX nor Mr Isaacman, who founded the payment services company Shift4, have revealed how much the Polaris Dawn mission is costing. The Independent has reached out to SpaceX for comment.

Beyond the billionaire’s personal goal of taking part in a spacewalk, the mission will also test SpaceX’s new Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits that were designed to take humans deeper into space than ever before.

SpaceX says its Polaris Dawn spacewalk mission will launch at 3:38am local time on 27 August, 2024 (SpaceX)

The EVA suits will be exposed to the inner band of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts, with the orbit of the Polaris Dawn craft reaching an altitude of 1,400 kilometres (870 miles).

The spacewalk is scheduled to take place on the third day of the mission, which will see Mr Isaacman and fellow crew member Sarah Gillis exit the craft while attached to an umbilical cord.

The crew will also conduct 36 research studies and experiments during the five-day mission, which aim to test the Starlink communications system in space and “advance both human health on Earth and during long-duration spaceflight”.

A livestream of the launch will be broadcast on the firm’s official page on X on Tuesday morning.