Highest altitude crewed flight in Earth Orbit

The highest altitude reached by a spacecraft in Earth orbit (i.e. not one on a trans-lunar trajectory, or in orbit around the Moon) is 1,400.7 km (870.35 mi), achieved by the crew of the private Polaris Dawn mission on 11 September 2024. Their spacecraft, Crew Dragon Resilience, was boosted to an elliptical orbit with an apogee (highest point) of 1,400.7 km and a perigee (lowest point) of around 196 km (121.8 mi) at 00:20 (all times UTC). It remained in this orbit until 10:30 the same day.

The crew of the Polaris Dawn mission were commander Jared Isaacman (who was also the mission's financial backer), pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, who served as medical officer and flight engineer, respectively.

The flight broke a record that had stood since Gemini XI, which reached an altitude of 1,368.9 km (850.6 mi) on 14 September 1966 with NASA astronauts Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon on board.