BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – It's being touted a first-of-its-kind push to bolster human spaceflight efforts and making access to space faster.

What You Need To Know

  • The Polaris Program will consist of three human spaceflight missions

  • Polaris Dawn is the name of the first mission

  • A four-person crew will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center.

  • They will attempt the first commercial spacewalk using SpaceX suits

​The new Polaris Program will launch from our Space Coast with the goal of raising funds and awareness for causes here on Earth. They will consist of three human spaceflight mission, demonstrating new technologies and performing research – leading to the first flight of SpaceX's crewed Starship mission.

"It's quite ambitious, and it's interesting to see the technology and experiments they are going to conduct on these missions," says Don Platt, Florida Tech Director, Spaceport Education Center.

At the helm, Jared Isaacman, the tech guru and Inspiration4 commander, will be in charge of the Polaris Dawn mission, the first Polaris Program mission.

He, along with three other crew members, Mission Pilot Scott Poteet, Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis and Mission Specialist/Medical Officer Anna Menon will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center.

Their Dragon capsule will spend five days in orbit with the goal of reaching the highest Earth orbit ever flown.

Other milestones they will attempt:

  • The first ever commercial spacewalk using SpaceX suits.
  • To become the first crew to use Starlink laser based communications in space, paving the way for future missions to the moon and Mars.
  • Plus, research on the effects of radiation on the body.

"We're getting good information which will be very helpful for other people in the future to be able to do even deep space exploration, things beyond Earth orbit at about the altitude of the space station," Platt tells us.

​They set the Polaris Dawn launch from KSC for the fourth quarter of this year.