Polaris Dawn was the gate-opener mission to the larger Polaris Program, a set of at least three anticipated missions bankrolled by billionaire Jared Isaacman.
Polaris Dawn was originally scheduled to launch on Aug. 26, 2024, but SpaceX pushed it back a day to perform additional preflight checks. It was delayed again on Aug. 27, 2024, due to unfavorable launch and return conditions. The mission eventually launched on Sept. 10, 2024, and it didn't take long for this mission to make history. On Polaris Dawn's first day in space, Resilience reached a maximum altitude of 870 miles (1,400.7 kilometers) — higher than any crewed Earth-orbiting spacecraft had ever gotten.
