With its latest effort, the Polaris Program, SpaceX intends to make advances both in space and on Earth. And the people who are working on it are ecstatic.

The Polaris Program is a collaboration between SpaceX and Jared Isaacman, a millionaire and tech entrepreneur who in September 2021 funded and commanded the Inspiration4 orbital crewed mission to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Polaris aspires to fly three crewed flights into space, culminating in SpaceX's Starship vehicle's first crewed voyage. The first SpaceX astronauts will fly, new spacesuits will be unveiled, and much more will be revealed as part of the event.

There is no clear launch date for the program's first mission, Polaris Dawn, but commander Isaacman is eager to return to the final frontier.

"I'm incredibly passionate that we can make meaningful progress towards a world we all want to live in for tomorrow, while also working to address the challenges and hardships of today. It does not have to be one or the other, but in fact can be both," Isaacman said during a news conference on Feb 14.

The "North Star," which is actually a system of three different stars, is the name given to the series of three missions. Isaacman will fly with Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon from SpaceX, as well as Scott Poteet, a pilot from the company.

"I can't tell you how honored I am to work with such an accomplished crew that I trust and respect deeply," Isaacman said. 

Inspiration4, which garnered approximately $240 million for the research facility, was originally financed by Isaacman. He also stated that he will contribute to the Polaris missions.

The first spacewalk from a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft will also take place during these trips (before a crew is launched on Starship). Part of the reason for SpaceX to bring new spacesuits to the table is this anticipated extravehicular activity (EVA). SpaceX is also working on and testing new spacesuits that will be used during Polaris, as Isaacman explained today.

"There's a fantastic team of brilliant engineers working on the spacesuit. And it'll be really exciting to work together as their design unfolds," said Menon, a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX and mission specialist for Polaris Dawn.