2024-08-27 01:33:06
SpaceX has decided to postpone the launch of the “Polaris Dawn” mission after detecting a “helium leak” early on Tuesday, August 27. The crew, led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, will attempt to launch into space this Wednesday at dawn.
We will have to wait a little longer. Initially scheduled for this Monday, August 26, the launch of the rocket carrying the four members of the crew for SpaceX’s first “Polaris Dawn” mission has been delayed once again. The next launch window from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is this Wednesday, August 28, between 5:23 AM and 7:09 AM local time (11:23 AM and 1:09 PM Paris time).
The delay is due to a “helium leak” detected during the final tests before the launch that was scheduled for early Tuesday, SpaceX communicated on social media.
The first private spacewalk in history
The commander of this five-day mission, named “Polaris Dawn,” is American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who previously traveled to space in 2021 aboard another SpaceX mission that he chartered, Inspiration4.
“It’s been two and a half years since we announced the Polaris program and it has been an exciting adventure of development and training,” the billionaire stated during a press conference in mid-August.
He did not disclose how much he has invested in this program, which is set to include a total of three missions, funded by both him and SpaceX. For the trip, SpaceX has developed its first generation of space suits, entirely white and with a futuristic look.
The four adventurers have undergone intensive training: about 2,000 hours in a simulator, sessions in a centrifuge (long arm spinning rapidly), underwater diving, parachuting, and climbing the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador…
The mission has three main objectives. First, to reach an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, the farthest distance for a crew since the Apollo lunar missions. A test of laser communication is also planned between the spacecraft and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.
But above all, the famous spacewalk, which is expected to be broadcast live. The spacecraft (the Dragon capsule) is not equipped with an airlock, so the entire crew will be exposed to the vacuum of space when the hatch is opened. Two passengers will remain onboard, while the other two will venture outside one at a time.