Jared Isaacman, billionaire and founder of payments company Shift4 who flew on the first private SpaceX flight to orbit last year, has bought three more flights from Elon Musk’s company.
The first mission in the Polaris Program is supposed to launch a four-person crew led by Isaacman in the 4th quarter. This will be alongside the rockets company’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft. According to the program’s website, the augural flight, Polaris Dawn, will be the first of up to three missions, with the final one to be the first crewed spaceflight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
“The Polaris Program is an important step in advancing human space exploration while helping to solve problems through the use of innovative technology here on Earth,” Isaacman said in a statement.
The Polaris Dawn mission will stay in the orbit for up to five days. Its goal is to achieve the first private-company spacewalk with Spacex spacesuits. Meanwhile, the company will also be testing Starlink satellite communication in space, while researching human health at the same time.
