Imagine floating in the darkness of space, further away than the International Space Station. Only your suit protects you from the deadly vacuum - a suit that could make survival on Mars possible in the future. This is Polaris Dawn, the first of three missions in the ambitious Polaris program of Jared Isaacman, an entrepreneur and experienced pilot who has teamed up with SpaceX to take human spaceflight to a new level. This is no ordinary mission, but a crucial step towards the Moon and Mars. Falcon 9 Booster 1083.4 previously carried Crew-8 in March 2024, a Starlink mission in April and May, and is now flying for the fourth time. Dragon capsule 207, also known as Resilience, previously carried Crew-1 in November 2020 and Inspiration4 in September 2021. It has been over 1,000 days since the last flight . This time was used to develop the mission profile and convert the capsule. More on that in a moment! There are four extraordinary crew members on board : Jared "Rook" Isaacman himself, the veteran, financier and initiator who already made history with Inspiration4, is the capsule's commander. The billionaire adventurer and philanthropist made his fortune primarily by founding two companies. Shift4 Payments is a banking alternative, comparable to PayPal. Draken International operates one of the world's largest private fleets of military training aircraft. This military experience, combined with his passion for space travel, has certainly contributed to Isaacman having the skills and network to realize ambitious projects such as the Polaris program in collaboration with SpaceX. And of course the fact that he has a lot of money also helped. Anna Menon is a SpaceX engineer and medical officer on board. Sarah Gillis is a senior astronaut trainer at SpaceX and is a mission specialist. Both women have closely followed the Dragon program for many years. And finally, Scott "Kidd" Poteet, a Navy pilot with over 20 years of experience and the pilot of this mission. Polaris Dawn is a development mission for the future. With a planned orbit reaching an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, the crew will conduct scientific experiments that will help safeguard human health and technology on future trips to other planets. The flight profile calls for the booster to take the crew into an elliptical orbit of 190x1,400 kilometers - breaking the Gemini 11 record. In 1966 the crew reached an altitude of around 1,374 kilometers. This involves certain risks, but you are willing to take them. More on that in a moment. One of the most exciting elements of this mission will be the first commercial spacewalk - a moment that will be streamed live. And when the time comes, I will of course be live. By the way, I'm also streaming the start. Both links are below in the description. But it's no ordinary walk, because the Dragon capsule doesn't have an airlock, so the entire capsule has to be vented. This means that all the air in the capsule is released. A risky move that shows how serious Polaris Dawn is about advancing spacesuit technology - and especially how much confidence they have in their first generation suits. For this maneuver, two redundant suppression systems with sufficient nitrogen and oxygen were equipped. By the way, they also had to retool some surfaces and materials used that don't perform well in a vacuum. Additional handrails were also installed in the front hatch to make getting in and out easier. While some risks are obvious, others are more invisible. The high altitude brings the capsule several times a day into orbital areas that are either heavily littered or contaminated with radiation. However, that all sounds much worse than it is, but that's a topic for a whole separate video. I have already covered the topic of space debris in another video. Of course you can find it below. Dragon adjusts in orbit in such a way that it protects the crew. We hope not to find out how effective this protection is when there is a crew inside. In total, the crew will spend five days in space , collecting radiation data and maneuvering the Dragon capsule into an ever-deepening orbit to conduct the spacewalk in optimal conditions. To do this, they are aiming for an elliptical orbit of 190x700 kilometers . A specially developed laser system will enable communication between the capsule and the Starlink satellites during the mission. That may sound simple, but it's important to remember that all of these objects are racing through space in different directions at more than 22,500 km/h relative to the ground. What, in my opinion, is the coolest experiment are the smart contact lenses that measure the intraocular pressure, i.e. the pressure that exists inside the eye. This makes the crew look like something from a sci-fi film. What makes this even more interesting is the potential of this technology. Just imagine what you can do with contact lenses like this in the future! But it's not just the technology that is in the foreground. Like Inspiration4, this mission will raise funds for St. Jude Children's Hospital to support pediatric cancer research . Inspiration4 raised $250 million. In the 2.5 years since Polaris Dawn was announced, crew members have trained tirelessly. Their preparation includes over 2,000 hours in the capsule simulator, training under 0-G conditions and even diving and parachute jumps. Thanks to partners such as NASA, the US Air Force Academy, SpaceX and the founder of Draken International as mission commander, the crew had the opportunity to train for many hours in fighter jets. All of this serves a single goal: to lay the foundation for future manned space travel to the Moon and Mars. During the spacewalk, the new EVA suit, which is based on SpaceX's previous spacesuits, will be intensively tested. Among other things, the helmet was equipped with a heads-up display and cameras, new materials were installed and the joints were given a new architecture. What has to be said clearly is that the suit alone is of limited use, as it has to be supplied by the capsule via an umbilical cord. The crew will breathe 100% oxygen before venting the capsule and heading out into space. Each of them will spend about 15 to 20 minutes outside the capsule. Once they've done that, they'll have completed the first commercial spacewalk. After the spacewalk, the capsule will be depressurized again and maneuvered into a lower orbit before ultimately returning to Earth. By the way, just before we conclude: The planned orbit is inclined at 51.6° to the equator. And do you know what else flies around the earth at exactly this orbit? Correct! The International Space Station. Jared Isaacman never revealed how much he invested in this mission. But one thing is clear: Polaris Dawn is not only a big step for private space travel, but also a crucial milestone for SpaceX on the way to Mars. The findings from this will flow into Polaris II , which also envisages the combination of Falcon 9 and Dragon. Polaris III is already supposed to take place with a Starship. It is currently not possible to answer precisely when this will happen . What is certain is that the safety of the crew is the top priority and that there are extremely ambitious schedules. At the time of going to press, the launch was scheduled for Tuesday, August 27th at 9:38 a.m. (CET). Of course I will stream. Thank you to my channel members, patrons, and everyone who supports Mars Chronicles! You enable me to produce these videos for you. If you also want to support Mars Chronicles , you can find all the information about it in the video description below! My name is Sirwan and this was Mars Chronicles! Thanks for tuning in! Per Aspera! Ad Astra!