Meet The Crew of Polaris Dawn

The four crew members of Polaris Dawn are in the final parts of mission preparation at Kennedy Space Center today, and readying themselves for the planned liftoff of their mission overnight Tuesday morning.

All four are incredibly accomplished, successful, and results-driven; their curriculum vitae (Latin for “course of life”) shows that vividly.

Official Links
Polaris Dawn Official Website
SpaceX Official Polaris Dawn page
Polaris Dawn St. Jude’s Donation Page (please donate!)

Here’s a brief look at their paths to the launch pad:

Jared Isaacman, Mission Commander

Born in 1983 in New Jersey, Jared Isaacman began taking flying lessons in 2005. In 2008 and 2009, he set world records for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe. In 2011, he received a Bachelor’s degree in professional aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Isaacman is the CEO of Shift4, a leading payments processing company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and is the founder of Draken International, a company that provides contract air services using tactical fighter aircraft. Draken’s customers include the Department of Defense and the defense industry.

See Also:
Polaris Dawn Crew At Kennedy, Training For Tuesday Morning Launch

Isaacman was the Commander of 2021’s Inspiration 4, and Polaris Dawn will be his second spaceflight.

Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Mission Pilot

From Chattanooga, Tennessee, Scott Poteet is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who spent 20 years in the service. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and a Master’s from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

While in the Air Force, Poteet’s roles included a stint as commanding officer of the 64th Aggressor Squadron, a storied unit started in World War II that now primarily support the USAF Weapons School.

After the Air Force, Poteet worked for Draken Interntional and then Shift4 before he began training full time for the Polaris Dawn flight.

Poteet was a mission director in the 2021 for Inspiration 4. This will be his first flight to space.

Sarah Gillis, Mission Specialist

A familiar face to many space supporters, Sarah Gillis works for SpaceX as the Lead Space Operations engineer for the company, and she is often seen in documentaries and broadcasts of SpaceX’s crewed launch activities. She is often seen the Netflix documentary “Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space,” where she she helped train the crew for their upcoming flight and also during the activities in space.

From Boulder Colorado, Ms. Gillis says that, “Growing up in a family of artists and musicians, I can’t say I grew up dreaming of being an engineer (or even knowing what engineering was). Rather, I fell into it when I discovered there was a profession entirely dedicated to creative problem solving, and have been hooked ever since.”

Gillis holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado. This will be her first space flight.

Anna Menon, Mission Specialist and Medical Officer

From Houston, Texas, Anna Menon also works for SpaceX as the Lead Space Operations Engineer. In her role, she manages the development of crew operations and serves in mission control as both a Mission Director and crew communicator.

She has led the implementation of Dragon’s crew capabilities, helped create the crew communicator operator role, and developed critical operational responses to vehicle emergencies such as a fire or cabin depressurization. Anna served in mission control during multiple Dragon missions, such as Demo-2, Crew-1, CRS-22, CRS-23, Crew-3, Crew-4, and Axiom-1.

Menon is a NASA veteran, woking seven years at the agency as a biomedical flight controller for the International Space Station.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and also Spanish from TCU (Texas Christian University) as well as a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University.

This will also be her first spaceflight.

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Polaris Dawn is scheduled to launch Tuesday, August 27th. SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, August 27 at 3:38 a.m. ET for Falcon 9’s launch from Launch Complex 39A SpaceX adds that there are two additional launch opportunities within the four-hour window at 5:23 a.m. ET and 7:09 a.m. ET. If needed, backup opportunities are available on Wednesday, August 28 at the same times.

_{Note: Biographies were prepared in part with information from the Polaris Dawn website.}