US 30s Billionaire Challenges Private Longest-Distance Space Travel

Jared Isaacman, Shift4 Payments CEO
to Fly SpaceX Spaceship on First Flight in November

(Left) Jared Shift4 Payments CEO [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] A 30-something American billionaire who flew in Earth's orbit last year aboard a spacecraft from the private space company SpaceX is set to attempt the longest distance flight in the history of private space travel.

Jared Isaacman, CEO of the U.S. payment processing company Shift4Payments (photo), announced on the 14th (local time) the space travel plan called "Polaris," which consists of three flights.

Isaacman CEO, along with SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, and former U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Poteet, ex-vice president of Shift4Payments, form a four-person team that will embark on the first flight as early as November aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.

The spacecraft, launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, aims to approach the flight altitude of 1,372.7 km set by NASA's Gemini 11 mission in 1966.

Upon reaching the target altitude, they will conduct orbital flight around Earth for up to five days, which, if successful, will set the longest private space travel record in 56 years.

Isaacman CEO said, "Polaris is an important step to advance human space exploration and simultaneously help solve problems through innovative technology," adding, "We will go farther than anyone since humans last walked on the lunar surface."

The first flight will also conduct research to protect astronauts from radiation exposure by passing through part of the Van Allen radiation belts. The Van Allen belts are radiation belts surrounding Earth, acting as a shield protecting Earth from powerful solar wind particles.

The four-person team will wear new spacesuits and attempt the first spacewalk. They will also carry out a mission to communicate with Earth using a laser-based communication system of the Starlink internet satellites launched by SpaceX.

Isaacman CEO did not disclose the schedule for the second and third flights. However, The Washington Post reported that "the third flight will be the first crewed test flight of Starship, SpaceX's next-generation spacecraft developed for Mars exploration."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.