What do a former violinist and a retired military pilot have in common? They’re both from Colorado and launching into space this summer.
Two Colorado astronauts — 30-year-old Sarah Gillis of Boulder and 50-year-old Scott Poteet of Monument — are ready to blast into space with SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, launching in mid-July.
At approximately 700 kilometers above the Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk with SpaceX-designed suits and equipment.
The mission also aims to break the altitude record for Earth orbit at 1,400 kilometers. Currently, the International Space Station is about 400 kilometers above the Earth.
“We will provide updates soon, but we are getting really close,” mission commander and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman said in a statement on social media in June. “It is bittersweet, we spent 2-plus years training together and that is about to end.”
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