Isaacman, who founded Shift4 Payments at age 16, has amassed considerable wealth from his payments processing company, which now processes over $260 billion annually and serves major clients such as Hilton and KFC. In addition to his business success, Isaacman is known in the aviation industry for breaking the record for the fastest flight around the world in a light jet, which he completed in 61 hours, 51 minutes and 15 seconds. He also founded Draken International, which has the largest private fleet of military jets and trains Air Force pilots.
The Polaris Dawn mission team includes former Air Force pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. A highlight of this mission is the private spacewalk, during which Isaacman and Gillis will test new SpaceX spacesuits outside the spacecraft.
Isaacman’s space journey follows his previous achievement with the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, which was the first all-civilian space flight.
Earlier this week, SpaceX postponed the launch of its Polaris Dawn mission for the second time this week, citing adverse weather conditions off the coast of Florida, where the crew capsule is scheduled to splash down after completing its journey. The mission, which will carry four civilians into Earth orbit and conduct the first spacewalk by a private citizen, was originally scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, but was initially delayed due to a helium leak.
The Polaris Dawn mission is the first of three planned missions under the Polaris program, a joint human spaceflight project between Isaacman and SpaceX. The mission’s primary goals include reaching an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, higher than any human mission since NASA’s Apollo 17 in 1972, and conducting a historic spacewalk at an altitude of 700 kilometers above Earth.
