We will still have to wait. Initially scheduled for Monday, August 26, the launch of the rocket carrying the four crew members of SpaceX’s first “Polaris Dawn” mission has been postponed again. The next launch window from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida is this Wednesday, August 28, between 5:23 and 7:09 local time (11:23 and 13:09 Paris time).
The fault is due to a “helium leak” detected during final tests before launch scheduled for early Tuesday morning, SpaceX announced on social media.
The first private spacewalk in history
The commander of this five-day mission, dubbed “Polaris Dawn,” is American billionaire Jared Isaacman. who was already in space in 2021 aboard another SpaceX mission that he had contracted,Inspiration4.
“It’s been two and a half years since we announced the Polaris program and it’s been an exciting development and training adventure,” the billionaire said at a press conference in mid-August.
He did not reveal how much he had invested in the programme, which will include three missions in total, funded by both him and SpaceX. For the trip, SpaceX has developed its first generation of suits intended for the vacuum of space, all white and with a futuristic look.
The four adventurers underwent intensive training: some 2,000 hours in a simulator, sessions in a centrifuge (a long, rapidly rotating arm), scuba diving, parachuting and climbing the Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador…
The mission has three main objectives. First, to reach an altitude of 1,400 km, the longest distance for a crew since the Apollo lunar missions. Also planned is the test of laser communication between the spacecraft and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.
But above all, the famous spacewalk, which should be broadcast live. As the ship (the Dragon capsule) is not equipped with an airlock, the entire crew will be exposed to the vacuum of space when the hatch is opened. Two passengers will remain on board, while two others will take turns venturing outside.
Source: BFM TV
