Musk's SpaceX again delays launch of first-ever private spacewalk mission

By Peter Vercoe
 

SpaceX has again delayed the launch of a rocket carrying four private astronauts to space, part of a groundbreaking mission aimed at performing the world’s first commercial spacewalk.
 

After Tuesday’s initial launch was scrubbed because of a helium leak, SpaceX said it was standing down from lift-off opportunities on Wednesday and Thursday because of unfavourable weather forecast in the spacecraft’s splashdown areas off the coast of Florida. The company said it will continue to monitor for favourable launch and return conditions, but didn’t specify when the launch might take place.

Due to unfavorable weather forecasted in Dragon’s splashdown areas off the coast of Florida, we are now standing down from tonight and tomorrow’s Falcon 9 launch opportunities of Polaris Dawn. Teams will continue to monitor weather for favorable launch and return conditions

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 28, 2024

 

The signature moment of the mission, called Polaris Dawn, was to be a 15-to-20 minute spacewalk by billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis. Isaacman previously flew to orbit with SpaceX in 2021 and provided funding for the Polaris Dawn flight and its development. 

Also on the four-person crew are SpaceX engineer and Anna Menon and Isaacman’s friend and former Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet.

Though the main focus of the mission was the spacewalk, Polaris Dawn also had a number of secondary objectives, and aimed to break some spaceflight records. The first phase of flight was to see the Crew Dragon spacecraft reach a height of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) above Earth — the farthest humans have flown into space since the Apollo astronauts reached the moon.