Witness the launch of the Polaris Dawn Mission up close from Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch the Polaris Dawn mission from the Space Caost on August 26, 2024.

Watch the launch of the Polaris Dawn Mission from Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center

SpaceX is preparing to launch its next private mission by the end of the month, featuring the first attempt to have the astronauts step out into space.

The Polaris Dawn mission — the first of three flights billionaire and Shift4 founder Jared Isaacman purchased from SpaceX in 2022 for his human spaceflight effort known as the Polaris Program — is set to launch from the the space coast in Florida in the early hours of Aug. 26, 2024.

Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center is offering viewing tickets to get real up close to the launch of the Polaris Dawn mission!

Watch as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches four civilians into orbit for five days, aiming for groundbreaking achievements and raising funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Jared Isaacman will be commanding the mission, with longtime colleague Scott Poteet joining him as the pilot and Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, a pair of SpaceX employees, serving as the flight’s medical officer and mission specialist, respectively.

The multi-day trip isn’t headed to a destination, but instead will be a free-flying mission tracing orbits that the crew hopes will go far from Earth.

APOLLO/SATURN V PREMIUM LAUNCH TRANSPORTATION TICKET

The cost of the premium ticket to watch the launch is $70. Tickets include:

A close uo view, pproximately 4 miles/ 6 kilometers from the launch pad.

Launch Transportation Ticket (LTT) required in addition to admission.

Check-in begins at 12:15 am and buses will begin boarding at 12:30 am on August 26, 2024 in the Bus Embarkation Zone

Launch audio, video feed, and commentary provided by a space-expert communicator

For more info and to purchase tickets:

https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/events-calendar/2024/august/rocket-launch-spacex-falcon-9-polaris-dawn

This Dragon mission will take advantage of Falcon 9 and Dragon’s maximum performance, flying higher than any Dragon mission to date and endeavoring to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown.

Orbiting through portions of the Van Allen radiation belt, Polaris Dawn will conduct research with the aim of better understanding the effects of spaceflight and space radiation on human health.

FIRST COMMERCIAL SPACEWALK

At approximately 700 kilometers above the Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) with SpaceX-designed extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits, upgraded from the current intravehicular (IVA) suit.

Building a base on the Moon and a city on Mars will require thousands of spacesuits; the development of this suit and the execution of the EVA will be important steps toward a scalable design for spacesuits on future long-duration missions.

IN-SPACE COMMUNICATIONS

The Polaris Dawn crew will be the first crew to test Starlink laser-based communications in space, providing valuable data for future space communications systems necessary for missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

HEALTH IMPACT RESEARCH

While in orbit, the crew will conduct scientific research designed to advance both human health on Earth and our understanding of human health during future long-duration spaceflights.

This includes, but is not limited to:

Using ultrasound to monitor, detect, and quantify venous gas emboli (VGE), contributing to studies on human prevalence to decompression sickness;

Gathering data on the radiation environment to better understand how space radiation affects human biological systems;

Providing biological samples towards multi-omics analyses for a long-term Biobank; and

Research related to Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome (SANS), which is a key risk to human health in long-duration spaceflight.

SpaceX and Polaris Dawn will also collaborate with the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), BioServe Space Technologies at the University of Colorado Boulder, Space Technologies Lab at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, Weill Cornell Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

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