Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of payments processing company Shift 4, has purchased three more SpaceX trips, the first of which is slated for this year and could put Isaacman and SpaceX on track to journey deeper into space than any person has in the last half-century.
The first expedition in the series, dubbed "Polaris" after the North Star, is set to take place later this year and will last up to five days, with Isaacman and three other individuals on board. It will go to the Van Allen radiation belt, which includes an inner band that runs from 400 to 6,000 miles above Earth, in part to assist the crew in their research into how radiation affects the human body in space.
Radiation is still a major problem for spaceflights to the moon and Mars, which SpaceX claims it intends to achieve because they would need continuous exposure to radiation, which can lead to an "increased risk of cancer and degenerative diseases" and other long-term effects, according to NASA.
During a news conference on Monday, Isaacman said that the Gemini missions of the 20th century, which set altitude records at the time, are a guidepost for how high the first Polaris mission will travel. Gemini missions reached altitudes of up to 850 miles, which is roughly three times higher than the International Space Station's orbit. Isaacman declined to reveal the flight's altitude.
The crew will conduct a spacewalk on that mission, which will be the first for anyone traveling aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule. On Monday morning, Isaacman announced the news on NBC's Today Show and in an interview with the Washington Post.
"We're gonna go farther into space than humans have gone since we last walked on the moon," he told the Today show.
Isaacman, who earned international fame after purchasing the first SpaceX all-tourism trip called "Inspiration 4," stated that the first Dragon mission will be followed quickly by a second Dragon mission. These two flights will prepare the way for the first-ever crewed mission on SpaceX's upcoming Starship rocket, which Elon Musk believes will take people to Mars one day.
It's unclear whether everything will go according to plan, and SpaceX hasn't said whether further testing would be required before Isaacman can travel to deep space. SpaceX has also remained mum on what, if any, improvements Crew Dragon will require to complete the trip successfully. The spaceship has only taken astronauts to low-Earth orbit, or the area of space directly surrounding Earth, so far.
The Inspiration 4 mission, which flew at a height of nearly 360 miles, was the highest Crew Dragon trip to yet, and Monday's announcement indicated that the first Polaris mission will travel at least twice as far.
