SpaceX delays Polaris Dawn launch due to weather condition

SpaceX and Polaris have announced that the first Polaris Program flight will happen next week on August 28, a day after the August 27 liftoff decided previously.

Update 2 – August 27, 2024 – 9:13 PM: SpaceX has announced that it’s standing down from tonight and tomorrow’s Polaris Dawn mission liftoff opportunities. This is due to the unfavorable weather conditions forecasted for Dragon’s splashdown areas off the coast of Florida. SpaceX teams are monitoring the situation around the weather and will share the next update.

Update 1: SpaceX has officially postponed the mission to the next day due to some issues on the ground side. The matter is related to the ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical. There’s no such case with the rocket or spacecraft. The new timing for launch will be August 28 at 3:38 a.m. ET. There are two additional four-hour window opening at 5:28 a.m. ET and 7:09 a.m. ET.

“The new date allows additional time for teams to complete preflight checkouts ahead of next week’s launch,” wrote SpaceX on Wednesday.

The company has published a teaser video on the social media site X including a Dragon capsule that will carry these astronauts to space.

The Polaris Program is a test and development program for new spaceflight technology. It will enable a whole new space exploration industry with the success of the first mission.

The flight will liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dragon will host a crew that includes:

• Jared Isaacman, Mission command and founder and CEO of Shift4
• Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Mission Pilot and a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel
• Sarah Gillis, Mission Specialist, a Colorado native and a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX
• Anna Menon, Mission Specialist and Medical officer, a Lead Space Operations Engineer at SpaceX

Once in orbit, the crew will spend up to five days in space and fly Dragon higher than any other mission to date and reach the highest distance from Earth. These astronauts will be wearing a newly developed extravehicular activity suite designed by SpaceX.

There, the crew will perform the first-ever commercial spacewalk, which could be the highest altitude of any human spaceflight mission since the Apollo program.

Onboard humans will also use Starlink satellites to conduct laser-based communication in space.