Space Day Speaker | 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.
The Polaris Dawn mission, operated by SpaceX, works to rapidly advance human spaceflight capabilities and expand our knowledge of humans adapting, living, and working in space. Objectives of the mission include completing the first-ever commercial spacewalk and attempting to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown. This year’s Space Day welcomes three of the four private citizen crew members: Jared Isaacman (mission commander), Scott Poteet (mission pilot), and Anna Menon (mission specialist and medical officer).
Jared Isaacman
Jared Isaacman is the CEO of Shift4 and he is an accomplished pilot & astronaut with over 7,000 flight hours of aviation experience, including ratings in multiple experimental and ex-military aircraft. He was the commander of Inspiration4, the world’s first all-civilian mission to space that helped raise over $240 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® to help eradicate childhood cancer.
Scott Poteet (Mission Pilot)
Scott “Kidd” Poteet is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who served 20 years in various roles that include Commander of the 64th Aggressor Squadron, USAF Thunderbird #4 Demonstration Pilot, USAF Weapons School Graduate, Operational Test & Evaluation Pilot, and Flight Examiner. Kidd is a command pilot with over 3,200 flying hours in the F-16, A-4, T-38, T-37, T-3, and Alpha Jet.
Anna Menon (Mission Specialist and Medical Officer)
Anna Menon is a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX, where she manages the development of crew operations and serves in mission control as both a Mission Director and crew communicator. During her tenure at SpaceX, she has led the implementation of Dragon’s crew capabilities, helped create the crew communicator operator role, and developed critical operational responses to vehicle emergencies such as a fire or cabin depressurization.