From left, Anna Menon. Scott Poteet, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis pose for a portrait at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — an annual airshow convention in Oshkosh, Wisconsin — in July 2022. (Photo courtesy of SpaceX).
What do a former violinist and a retired military pilot have in common? They’re both from Colorado and will be flying into space this summer.
Two Colorado astronauts — Sarah Gillis, 30, of Boulder, and Scott Poteet, 50, of Monument — are set to blast off into space on SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, which launches in mid-July.
About 700 kilometers above Earth, the crew will attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk wearing suits and equipment designed by SpaceX.
The mission also aims to break the Earth’s orbit altitude record of 1,400 kilometers. Currently, the International Space Station is about 400 kilometers above Earth.
“We’ll be providing updates soon, but we’re getting really close,” Shift4 Payments mission commander and CEO Jared Isaacman said in a social media statement in June. “It’s bittersweet, we’ve spent over two years training together and it’s about to come to an end.”
From music to space travel
For Colorado native Sarah Gillis, who grew up in the mountains outside Boulder and will serve as a mission specialist for Polaris Dawn, it wasn’t until high school that space appeared on her radar.
Gillis said her mother was a professional violinist and raised her to be a musician as well. She didn’t consider that she might have something else to do until her freshman year of high school.
In March 2012, Gillis snuck into her brother’s class at the University of Colorado Boulder to meet former astronaut and mechanical engineering professor Joe Tanner, who was giving a guest lecture.
“I didn’t even really know what engineering was up until that point,” she said. “I ended up staying and talking to Joe Tanner afterward … and that was really the catalyst that changed my life and my career.”
Gillis said Tanner mentored her throughout the rest of her high school and college career.
When she doubted her future as an aerospace engineer during her sophomore year at CU Boulder, he helped motivate her to get an internship at SpaceX to “get a glimpse of what’s possible.”
Gillis now lives in Long Beach, California, where she works as a principal space operations engineer for SpaceX, designing and overseeing SpaceX’s astronaut training program.
But music never left his life.
“Fundamentally, music and engineering are related in many ways,” Gillis said. “When you’re learning a complex passage or a new piece of music, there’s a methodological process of breaking it down into smaller parts. That’s what engineering is, and that’s what astronaut training is.”
When Isaacman launched Inspiration4 in 2021 — the first all-civilian mission to space — Gillis was tapped as the lead trainer to prepare the four-person crew for flight.
“At that time, I became very close to Jared,” she said. “Then, when he wanted to fly again and created this new project with SpaceX, he turned to me.”
The Polaris Dawn mission is a research exploration, intended to bring back training and information that will make space more accessible in the future, Gillis said.
“It’s fun to be on the other side of training again,” she laughs. “Each crew member has a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience that they bring to the team. Training is about bringing those skills together to become the most effective crew possible.”
Over the past two and a half years, the Polaris Dawn team has spent hours learning in NASA simulators, building and testing new hardware needed to perform the spacewalk, and getting as close to the real experience as possible to prepare.
Gillis said the crew had the opportunity to undergo skydiving training with the Airforce Academy in Colorado Springs.
“As we were looking to develop our skills, we needed a real-world, high-stakes environment where we could execute our procedures, manage our equipment and do it all in a quick time frame,” she said. “It was nice to be at home.”
A Colorado native, Gillis grew up hiking and spending a lot of time in the mountains, which she believes will give her an advantage when training for space travel.
“I’ve spent so much time thinking about what it would be like to go to space, putting myself in the shoes of the astronauts… but it’s all stationary,” she said. “I can’t wait to physically experience that moment where you’re suddenly weightless and floating.”
Combat pilot turns to space exploration
For Scott “Kidd” Poteet, the journey to space took a little longer.
Poteet earned his degree in outdoor education from the University of New Hampshire in 1996 before spending 20 years in the Air Force. During those two decades, Poteet flew combat missions around the world, led the 64th Aggressor Squadron and became a member of the prestigious Thunderbirds team.
While aboard the Thunderbirds, Poteet met Isaacman and, after retiring from the Air Force, began working with the CEO as mission director on Inspiration4.
“I never imagined I would have this opportunity,” Poteet said. “I struggled in high school and was recruited to run cross country and track at the University of New Hampshire. I didn’t have a technical background and continued to struggle as a student, so I got a degree in outdoor education.”
The focus was always on what he could do physically, Poteet said. Since 2000, he has competed in 15 Ironman triathlons, including four Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.
“It wasn’t until Jared and Inspiration4 proved that anyone could go to space that I considered it,” he said. “It was amazing to see. But at the end of that mission, I thought the journey was over.”
When Isaacman approached Poteet about the opportunity to fly into space aboard Polaris Dawn, he said there was no way he could pass up the opportunity.
It wasn’t an easy process — Poteet said he often felt like the “weak link” on the team because of his lack of space experience.
“Jared is a seasoned astronaut and Sarah taught him how to be one,” he said. “I had to catch up, learn all the systems and procedures they already knew.”
Physically, Poteet said he found a lot of consistency between spaceflight and what he had already experienced flying fighter jets and climbing mountains.
When you climb a mountain, it takes days to get there, Poteet explains. You are mentally and physically tired, you are cold, you are sleep deprived and there is no easy way back down. You have to deal with the circumstances.
“It’s about trying to get comfortable in uncomfortable situations,” he said. “You get to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses with your team. Over time, you gain confidence with yourself and your team.”
There are only a few boxes left to check before the team can enter quarantine and prepare for takeoff, according to Poteet. As of July 19, the team has still not entered quarantine.
Once the astronauts enter quarantine, the two-week countdown to liftoff will begin.
“These last two years have been very hectic,” Poteet said. “I think when we’re training, we’re very focused and very focused on the task at hand. We don’t often have time to interact with outsiders, so just sharing some of my experiences with my family has been very rewarding.”
Poteet’s wife and three children – daughters aged 18 and 16 and a 14-year-old son – will prepare for takeoff and eagerly await Poteet’s return to Earth.
“They are a little reluctant because of the level of risk, but they know we are in good hands,” he said. “They will nevertheless be relieved when I return to Earth.”
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