New Delhi: SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission aimed to conduct the first-ever ‘all-civilian’ spacewalk has been delayed over a helium leak, said the Elon-Musk-led company Tuesday.
The four-member mission was scheduled to launch today. It is now planned for liftoff onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Wednesday at 3:38 a.m. ET (1:08 pm IST) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“Teams are taking a closer look at a ground-side helium leak on the quick disconnect umbilical,” SpaceX said in a post on X.com
“Falcon and Dragon remain healthy and the crew continues to be ready for their multi-day mission to low-Earth orbit. Next launch opportunity is no earlier than Wednesday, August 28,” it added.
A “quick disconnect umbilical” connects Falcon 9 with a line coming from the launch tower. While Falcon 9’s Merlin engines burn kerosene and liquid oxygen as a propellant, SpaceX uses helium to pressurise fuel lines.
Meanwhile, Musk reiterated the safety of the crew, as the mission aims to fly higher than any crewed mission since the Apollo Programme ended in the 1970s.
“An incredible amount of work has gone into this historic mission by an amazing team. We are triple-checking everything to make sure there is nothing more we can do to improve crew safety,” Musk said.
SpaceX had earlier informed that “Polaris Dawn and SpaceX completed a full rehearsal of launch”. It added that the Falcon 9 also completed its “static fire test” ahead of the big launch.
Musk had also noted that in the case of any troubles, “the launch will be postponed until those concerns are addressed”.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions under the Polaris Programme by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who was also the commander of the first “all-civilian” space mission Inspiration4, launched in 2021.
Isaacman had purchased three spaceflights with SpaceX, and named the series Polaris Programme.
“The best aerospace engineers in the world are working on the issue, and we promise to put on a great show soon enough!” he posted on X.
Besides Isaacman, the crew includes pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, mission specialist Sarah Gillis, and medical officer Anna Menon.
During the mission, the crew will perform the first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA) by commercial astronauts, wearing EVA suits developed by SpaceX.
They are also expected to perform 36 research studies and experiments from 31 partner institutions designed to advance both human health on Earth and during long-duration spaceflight, and test Starlink laser-based communications in space.