Bad weather has delayed the SpaceX launch of the world’s first private spacewalk led and funded by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, the Elon Musk-owned company said late Tuesday. The Polaris Dawn mission was set to take from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida early Wednesday local time. An earlier attempt on Tuesday was scrapped due to a helium leak.
SpaceX on Tuesday postponed once more its attempt at launching a daring orbital expedition featuring an all-civilian crew that is aiming to carry out the first-ever spacewalk by private citizens.
The Polaris Dawn mission, organized by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, had been set to lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a four-hour window early Wednesday.
But SpaceX announced Tuesday it was pushing back the launch plans “due to unfavorable weather forecasted in Dragon’s splashdown areas off the coast of Florida,” in a message on X.
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
An earlier attempt on Tuesday was scrapped due to a helium leak on a line connecting the tower to the rocket.
Riding atop a Falcon 9 rocket, the SpaceX Dragon capsule is set to reach a peak altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) — higher than any crewed mission in more than half a century, since the Apollo era.
Mission commander Isaacman will guide his four-member team through the mission’s centerpiece: the first-ever spacewalk carried out by non-professional astronauts, equipped with sleek, newly developed SpaceX extravehicular activity (EVA) suits.