SpaceX again postpones launch of Polaris Dawn, the record-breaking commercial spacewalk mission

Wednesday’s launch of four civilians on a privately chartered spaceflight and the first commercial spacewalk has been postponed again, this time because of predicted bad weather off the coast where the crew capsule will splash down at the end of the flight, SpaceX announced late Tuesday.

The company said the Polaris Dawn The start was postponed until at least Friday, weather permitting.

“Our launch criteria are heavily dependent on the splashdown weather forecast,” mission commander Jared Isaacman said in a post on X. “Since there is no rendezvous with the ISS (space station) and we have limited life support consumables, we need to be absolutely certain of the reentry weather before launch.”

“Currently, conditions are not favorable either tonight or tomorrow, so we will reassess the situation day by day. As Elon (Musk) mentioned, Polaris Dawn is a challenging mission with critical objectives, so we will wait for the best opportunity to ensure success.”

The historic Polaris Dawn flight was already two days delayed due to problems with launch preparation on the ground and was scheduled to launch at 3:38 a.m. EDT on Wednesday. But on Tuesday evening, before the countdown began, mission managers checked the weather forecast and ordered another delay.

“Due to adverse weather conditions forecast for Dragon’s water landing sites off the coast of Florida, we are rescinding Polaris Dawn launch capabilities with Falcon 9 for tonight and tomorrow,” SpaceX said in a statement posted on social media. “Teams will continue to monitor weather to ensure favorable launch and return conditions.”

The launch was originally scheduled for Monday but was delayed 24 hours to complete normal preparatory work. A further 24-hour delay was ordered on Tuesday after engineers discovered a leak in a launch pad supply line that supplies helium to the booster rocket to pump the propellants into the rocket’s engines.

However, by Tuesday afternoon, all seemed well, and good launch weather was expected on Florida’s Space Coast. However, those hopes were dashed after the weather update late Tuesday.

“Sometimes the most difficult journeys require the most patience, and we are willing to wait for the right moment,” said Isaacman wrote on social media. “We know many have traveled to see the launch and we are grateful for your support. Together with @SpaceX, we will do our best to keep you updated.”

Isaacman’s crewmates are former F-16 pilot Scott Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. They plan to launch into a highly elliptical orbit that will take them higher than any astronaut has been since the Apollo lunar program.

The flight is the second SpaceX flight to low Earth orbit chartered by Isaacman, who founded one of the country’s leading credit card transaction processors at age 16. In 2021, he funded and led the mission of Inspiration4the first purely civilian commercial flight into orbit.

The Polaris Dawn mission is the first of three more SpaceX flights funded by Isaacman in collaboration with Musk, and the first ever to include non-governmental, civilian spacewalks.

Using a rig called the Skywalker, Isaacman and Gillis will take turns floating through the Crew Dragon’s forward hatch into open space, constantly connected to each other by 12-foot tethers.

Because the ship has no airlock, the cabin will be vented before the hatch is opened. Poteet and Menon will also wear pressure suits developed by SpaceX, and although they cannot stick their helmeted heads outside, they will be counted among the world’s spacewalkers.

The main goals of the demonstration are to test the joints, mobility and comfort of the new suit to help SpaceX engineers develop cheaper and easier-to-manufacture spacesuits for the large numbers of people SpaceX says will one day fly to the Moon and Mars.

The crew also plans to test a high-speed laser communications system and will conduct a series of biomedical experiments during the five-day flight to help researchers from more than 30 institutions learn more about the effects of microgravity.