Billionaire e-commerce mogul partners with SpaceX for 3 more crewed flights

Axtec

15/02/2022 01:03

By Steve Gorman
    LOS ANGELES, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The billionaire e-commerce
mogul who last year led the world's first all-private space crew
launched into orbit said on Monday he plans to help bankroll up
to three more such missions with SpaceX, independent of NASA's
human spaceflight program.
    Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments Inc
 FOUR.N , said his new "Polaris" collaboration with fellow
billionaire and SpaceX chief Elon Musk could launch its first
four-member crew as early as the fourth quarter of this year.
    Dubbed Polaris Dawn, the mission would aim to set a new
orbital altitude record and feature the world's first commercial
spacewalk, while also testing the laser-based communications
system of SpaceX's Starlink satellite network, Isaacman said in
a message online.
    If successful, the initiative would mark yet another
milestone in the growing commercialization of space, for which
human exploration was long the sole domain of professional
astronauts.
    As he did in the history-making "Inspiration4" flight that
carried a quartet of private citizens into orbit last September
aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, Isaacman plans to serve as
mission commander of the Polaris Dawn mission.
    A spokesman told Reuters that Isaacman and SpaceX "are
investing in the mission together" but not revealing any
financial details.
    Isaacman, an experienced jet pilot who flew in the Black
Diamond civilian aerobatics squadron and co-founded a private
air force of fighter planes for military training, introduced
his three Polaris Dawn crewmates on a conference call from Los
Angeles on Monday.
    Although none is a professional astronaut, all have close
career ties to the aerospace field.
    The Polaris Dawn pilot is retired U.S. Air Force combat
pilot Scott Poteet, a former Shift4 executive and mission
director for Inspiration4.
    Rounding out the crew will be two lead space operations
engineers from SpaceX - Sarah Gillis, who oversees the company's
astronaut training program, and Anna Menon, who manages crew
operations development. Both have also served as SpaceX mission
control operators.
    Plans call for a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch the
Polaris Dawn from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral,
Florida, and for the crew to spend up to five days in orbit. 
    To achieve Isaacman's objective of reaching the highest
altitude ever in Earth orbit, Polaris would have to surpass the
all-time record 850 miles (1,368 km) set in 1966 by NASA's
Gemini 11 mission.
    The planned spacewalk, set for much lower orbit at about 310
miles (500 km) over the Earth, would prove an especially
challenging feat as the first ever "extravehicular activity," or
EVA, attempted by non-professional astronauts.
    A second Polaris mission would, like the first, make use of
the Falcon 9-Crew Dragon combo that has become the SpaceX
workhorse for numerous NASA missions.
    But the third flight envisioned for the Polaris program
would break ground as the first human flight aboard Musk's
next-generation Starship, which SpaceX is developing for
eventual missions to the moon and Mars.
    Undertaking the maiden crewed flight of a brand-new
spacecraft without seasoned professional astronauts would stray
from longstanding practice at SpaceX, which relied on NASA
veterans to fly its first human missions of the Falcon 9 and
Crew Dragon.
    Polaris is not the only commercial space outfit looking to
send its own crew to orbit in the near future. 
    SpaceX plans separately to launch a four-person private crew
of the Houston-based spaceflight company Axiom to the
International Space Station on March 30 for what would be the
first all-private flight to dock at the orbiting research
laboratory. The debut Axiom crew includes a retired NASA
astronaut and a former Israeli fighter pilot.

 (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles. Editing by Gerry
Doyle)
 ((steve.gorman@thomsonreuters.com; 310-491-7256; Reuters
Messaging: steve.gorman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))