SpaceX's Polaris Dawn: Meet the people who will undertake world's first private spacewalk

SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission is set to achieve a remarkable milestone this week by conducting the first privately managed spacewalk. The Program is a pioneering initiative designed to advance human spaceflight capabilities rapidly while also raising funds and awareness for critical causes on Earth.
The Polaris Dawn mission is slated to commence at 3:38 am on August 27, launching from Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule.The mission is anticipated to span six days, with the spacewalk scheduled to take place on the third day of the journey.
During the mission, two crew members from the four-person team will exit their Crew Dragon capsule while in Earth's orbit to perform a tethered spacewalk. This event will serve as the inaugural test of SpaceX's newly developed spacesuits. The capsule doesn't have an airlock, so it will fully depressurise during the spacewalk, forcing all four crew members to depend entirely on their suits for survival.
The four crew members participating in the spacewalk are:
Jared Isaacman
Jared Isaacman, an experienced pilot and the billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments will lead the Polaris Dawn mission and during the mission, he and Sarah Gillis will conduct a spacewalk outside the spacecraft. Isaacman is financing the mission through his Polaris program, although he has not disclosed the total cost, which is believed to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
This will be Isaacman's second space mission, following his leadership of the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, which he organised and primarily funded in collaboration with SpaceX. The Inspiration4 mission was the first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth.
Isaacman has two additional missions planned under the Polaris program after Polaris Dawn, one of them will involve another flight on Crew Dragon, while the other will be on Starship, SpaceX's next-generation rocket currently under development. He has not yet announced crewmates or dates for those flights.
Sarah Gillis
Sarah Gillis, a senior space operations engineer at SpaceX, is transitioning from her role as an astronaut trainer to becoming an astronaut herself. After completing her engineering degree at the University of Colorado Boulder, Gillis joined SpaceX as an intern in 2015 and since then, she has risen through the ranks to her current position.
In her capacity as a senior space operations engineer, Gillis has been responsible for "training astronauts on safety and flight operations."
Her expertise has been invaluable in preparing Nasaastronauts for various missions, such as the "International Space Stations Dragon missions Demo-2 and Crew-1 and Inspiration4 mission in 2021."
Anna Menon
Anna Menon, a mission specialist and medical officer for the Polaris Dawn program, serves as a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX. In her role, she oversees the development of crew operations, making sure that the necessary procedures and protocols are established to support astronauts throughout their missions.
During the Polaris Dawn mission, she will be tasked with ensuring the crew's health and well-being by monitoring their physiological responses and providing medical assistance when required and previously, Menon worked as a biomedical flight controller at Nasa. Menon earned her Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Duke University.
Menon is married to Anil Menon who was born to Indian and Ukrainian parents in Minneapolis. Anil has worked with Nasa and SpaceX, contributing to multiple space programs. He formerly worked as a flight surgeon at SpaceX and is currently undergoing training to become a Nasa astronaut.
Scott Poteet
Scott Poteet, a former US Air Force pilot with extensive flight experience, including over 3,200 hours in various aircraft such as the F-16 fighter jet, will serve as the mission pilot for the upcoming Polaris Dawn mission. Poteet's journey in the private space industry started when he took on the role of Mission Director for the Inspiration4 mission.
The New Hampshire native's responsibilities in the latest mission go beyond piloting the spacecraft; they also include assisting with the spacewalk, providing communication support, and working closely with mission control.
Prior to his current position, Poteet held the role of vice president of strategy at Shift4, a company owned by Isaacman, until 2022. He also worked as a business development director at Draken International, a defense contractor founded by Isaacman, until 2020, before Isaacman sold a majority stake in the company to Blackstone in 2019.
Named after the North Star, Polaris has historically guided navigation on Earth and in the skies. This mission aims to demonstrate crucial operational capabilities that will lay the groundwork for further human exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
(With inputs from agencies)