ANI |
Update: 27 August, 2024 11:12 First
Florida [US]Aug 27 (ANI): Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has postponed the launch of its historic 'Polaris Dawn' mission, which would have included the first spacewalk by a civilian crew, to Wednesday.
The launch of the capsule carrying four civilian astronauts, scheduled to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the morning of Aug. 27, has been delayed by at least 24 hours due to a helium leak, the company said in a social media post on X on Aug. 26.
“Teams are closely monitoring a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect Umbilical. Falcon and Dragon are healthy and the crew is ready for their multi-day mission to low Earth orbit. Next launch opportunity is no earlier than Wednesday, August 28,” SpaceX tweeted.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program, a human-spaceflight project funded and organized by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. It includes a spacewalk that has so far only been attempted by government astronauts.
Isaacman will command Polaris Dawn and will be joined by three crewmates aboard the mission's Crew Dragon capsule — pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteat, a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX engineers. The mission will last about 5 days before it is launched into an oval-shaped orbit that extends to an altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) above Earth.
Anna Menon has an Indian connection as she is married to Anil Menon who is a surgeon and lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force who previously served as SpaceX's first flight surgeon, helping launch its first humans into space during the Demo-2 mission. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Ukrainian and Indian immigrants, Anil Menon is currently a NASA astronaut in training.
After the postponement, Musk wrote on X, “An incredible amount of work has gone into this historic mission by an amazing team. We're triple-checking everything to make sure there's nothing more we can do to improve crew safety.”
Isaacman also posted on X, “We are grateful to all of our friends, family and supporters who came to @NASAKennedy for the launch. The best aerospace engineers in the world are working on this issue, and we promise to put on a great show soon!”
Isaacman previously self-funded a mission to orbit Earth in 2021. He was aboard the 'Inspiration4' human spacecraft operated by SpaceX.
Anna Menon said on the social media platform that she has always admired SpaceX's “hard work and commitment to not fly until we're ready. We'll try again tomorrow!”
Isaacman and Gillis will conduct a spacewalk on the third day of the mission after Polaris Dawn launches.
Marking a major milestone in human space flight, Polaris Dawn will see humans travel the farthest distance from Earth, aiming to reach a maximum distance of 1,400 kilometres from Earth, the farthest distance flown by any manned mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The astronauts will wear brand new extra-vehicular activity (EVA) suits, which SpaceX says it designed and developed in just two and a half years.
Meanwhile, the third Polaris flight will be the first manned mission of Starship, the vehicle that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX is developing to help humanity settle on the Moon and Mars.
Since 2020, SpaceX has been carrying NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. (ANI)