# Polaris Dawn was designed to test new capabilities

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/polaris-dawn-was-designed-to-test-new-capabilities/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Jared Isaacman](https://realalpha.app/people/jared-isaacman/) · Jared Isaacman is founder of Shift4, pilot and commercial astronaut. · Commanded Inspiration4, the first all-civilian orbital flight, and founded Shift4 payments; now runs NASA.
- Host: [David Friedberg](https://realalpha.app/people/david-friedberg/) · CEO, Ohalo · Founded The Climate Corporation, sold to Monsanto for about $1.1B in 2013.
- Show: All-In
- Episode: [Jared Isaacman: What went wrong at NASA | The All-In Interview](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/), Jun 4, 2025
- Moment: 14:04 to 16:50 of the episode (3 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/polaris-dawn-was-designed-to-test-new-capabilities/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=844

## Quote

> “we crammed so many really incredible objectives in five days, uh, on top of **about 40 science experiments**.”
> — [Jared Isaacman](https://realalpha.app/people/jared-isaacman/) at [14:11](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=851) · All-In

## Takeaways

1. Polaris Dawn carried about 40 science experiments in five days.
2. The mission aimed to test new capabilities, including a spacesuit.
3. Isaacman later put further space plans on hold for the NASA nomination.

## About this segment

After Inspiration4, Jared Isaacman and SpaceX planned a development program rather than a repeat mission. Polaris Dawn packed about 40 experiments into five days and aimed to test a new suit and reach a record altitude.

From “Jared Isaacman: What went wrong at NASA | The All-In Interview”, Jun 4, 2025. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[14:17](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=857) But how did the continuation go from Inspiration4 to Polaris, Tom? Yeah. And I, I'd love to, I mean, Polaristan was filled with, we crammed so many really incredible objectives in five days, uh, on top of about 40 science experiments. It was an awesome mission. I'd love to tell you about it. And, and, you know, but, uh, yeah. So when we came back from Inspiration4, I thought we checked the box on every objective.

[14:40](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=880) I mean, we navigated the whole, you know, billionaire in space thing, which at the time with, you know, some of the other, you know, missions that were going off was was attracting a lot of a lot of heat and really focused it on trying to to do good in the world that, you know, we can make progress in space and try and, you know, make the, you know, Mother Earth a better place. And we focused on raising a lot of money for St. Jude.

[15:02](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=902) And anyway, like we did and we did three days of science and research experiments. I felt really good. And we were a little bit short on our on our, you know, our fundraising goal for St. Jude. I mean, we set out to raise over 200 million dollars. We wound up raising 250 million, but we were a little short. We came back and I was like, man, we almost got everything done. And then Elon sent a tweet right after Splashdown, 40 minutes after Splashdown.

[15:27](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=927) and he said put me in for 50 million and he already had put in five and we we we exceeded our goal and i was like man we got everything done we set the bar high maybe this is it and um it was a couple weeks later that i was invited to go to starbase uh this was the second time i went this was like october 21 and we sat down with a number of folks including elon and we talked about you know doing like a developmental program where we actually can build things and test things that hadn't been done in a while.

[15:59](https://realalpha.app/v/6YdOjoaQTOQ/?t=959) And I remember Elon, he's like, we can build a suit. know exactly how I would do it. And let's go up really high. You know, let's get past the Gemini 11 record, go farther into space than anyone's gone since we last walked on the moon, because it's, it's different. It's hard. And we're going to learn a lot. And that's what you need to do when you want to inspire people is not kind of do the same things over and over again, but, but do things that are different and build up to an even grander objective. And I was like, all right, I'm totally in. And we contemplated other missions, you know, a follow-on to Polaristán and then the first crewed flight of Starship. But, uh, the nomination came in and, And, you know, I had to put my fun space career on hold for an incredible opportunity to serve the country and contribute to the world's greatest space agency.