Billionaire Jared Isaacman together with a crew of three others are about to make more history with the first launch of the Polaris Program somewhere late in 2022. It will be the second time in space for Isaacman, yet this time the crew will go a bit further into deep space. Meet the four civilian astronauts who will be looking down at Earth in a remarkable mission reinforcing the foundation of private space exploration.
1. Jared Isaacman
Isaacman, 38, gained international attention when he bought the first SpaceX cruise called Inspiration 4 that flew to Earth’s orbit in September 2021. He founded his own tri, having become a billionaire as the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments.
Apart from his business activities, he has extensive experience as a pilot, having performed several duties including a high-speed circumnavigation of the world, air shows and owning a jet pilot training company — Draken International. He has roughly 6,000 hours of flight experience.
2. Scott Poteet
Scott “Kidd” Poteet is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) Lieutenant Colonel and a pilot with more than 3,200 flying hours in aircraft including the F-16, A-4, T-38, T-37, T-3, and Alpha Jet, according to his Polaris Dawn biography. He also has more than 400 hours of combat time during Operations Northern Watch, Southern Watch, Joint Guardian, Freedom’s Sentinel, and Resolute Support. His age has not been disclosed.
3. Sarah Gillis
Sarah Gillis, age not disclosed, works for SpaceX as a lead space operations engineer. She is responsible for the company’s new astronaut training program, for missions such as Inspiration4, along with NASA Crew Dragon missions Demo-2 and Crew-1.
Her biography states that she is also experienced in mission control operations, including serving as navigation officer for Dragon cargo resupply missions, and crew communicator for Dragon human spaceflight missions.
4. Anna Menon
Anna Menon, age not disclosed, is also working for SpaceX as a lead space operations engineer. She manages crew operations development as well as working in the company’s mission control as both mission director and crew communicator. According to her biography, in the past she has handled control missions including NASA crewed spaceflights Demo-2 and Crew-1, along with the uncrewed cargo missions CRS-22 and CRS-23.
Despite her skills managing critical communications, Menon will be the specialists/medical officer onboard of the Polaris flight. In the past, she worked for seven years at NASA, serving as biomedical flight controller for the International Space Station. This role included aspects such as supporting orbiting space station crews, working with international partner engineers and medical care providers, and serving as lead for Expedition 47/48’s biomedical operations.
