Polaris Dawn spaceflight launch pushed to Summer 2024

Polaris today confirmed that its Polaris Dawn commercial spaceflight has been postponed to Summer 2024. The announcement comes as Polaris previously announced to send this mission in early 2024.

“We are now targeting no earlier than summer 2024 for the launch of Polaris Dawn, the first of the Polaris Program,” Polaris wrote on social media site X.

Announced in February 2022, the Polaris Dawn program is backed by Jared Isaacman CEO of Shift4 Payments. It is operated by SpaceX and launched via Falcon 9 and Dragon Spacecraft.

Initially planned to launch in late 2022, the program continues to face delays over the design of spacesuits and technical problems with SpaceX testing inter-satellite laser communication links.

The program slipped from October 2022 to March 2023, from there, it was delayed to Summer 2023. In December last year, Isaacman pushed the launch to April 2024 and now it’s around June this year.

Polaris Dawn mission is scheduled for a liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission crew will spend up to five days in orbit to conduct different tasks.

“The additional time continues to provide necessary developmental time to ensure both the completion of these mission goals and a safe launch and return of Dragon and the crew,” wrote the company.

The mission includes the first commercial spacewalk at 700 km above Earth using the extravehicular activity (EVA) spacesuits. It is an upgraded version of the existing extravehicular (IVA) suit.

The Polaris Dawn crew will be the first to test Starlink laser-based communications in space. It will provide data for the development of future space communications systems. The crew will also conduct scientific research on human health during long spaceflights.

Further details about the mission are available at the Polaris Dawn program.