SpaceX forced to delay Polaris Dawn mission by one day

By Trevor Mogg Published August 27, 2024

The Falcon 9 rocket that will power the Polaris Dawn mission to orbit. — The Falcon 9 rocket that will power the Polaris Dawn mission to orbit. SpaceX

SpaceX has delayed the launch of the highly anticipated Polaris Dawn mission by 24 hours while engineers look into a ground-based helium leak.

The Elon Musk-led spaceflight company had been hoping to launch the all-civilian flight at 3:38 a.m. ET today (August 27), but it’s now targeting the same time on Wednesday.

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SpaceX said in an announcement on social media on Monday — posted about seven hours before the original targeted launch time — that teams were “taking a closer look” at the issue while adding that the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, as well as the four crew members, remained in good shape.

“Teams are taking a closer look at a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical,” SpaceX said in the post on X (formerly Twitter). “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.”

All systems are looking good for tomorrow’s Falcon 9 launch of Polaris Dawn. Webcast will go live ~3.5 hours ahead of liftoff on Tuesday, August 27 → https://t.co/WpSw0gzeT0 pic.twitter.com/81xlzKZ9VV

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 26, 2024

Much excitement surrounds the five-day Polaris Dawn mission as it will see SpaceX’s Crew Dragon vehicle fly about 435 miles (700 km) from Earth, further than it’s ever flown before. This also means that the capsule will be taking humans to the furthest point from Earth since the final Apollo mission in 1972.

The mission will also see the first commercial spacewalk involving non-professional astronauts. During their time outside the spacecraft, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis will test out brand new spacesuits that could also be used for future missions to the moon.

There’s clearly a lot riding on the mission, and so fingers are crossed that SpaceX engineers can resolve the current issue and launch on Wednesday morning.

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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