By RTL News··Modified:
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Today the Polaris Dawn space flight will leave for space with only civilians on board. However, the SpaceX rocket launch has been postponed due to a leak. The company behind space tourism hopes the flight will continue tomorrow.
The spaceship was scheduled to launch this morning at 9:38 a.m. Dutch time, but couldn’t due to a helium leak, SpaceX reports via .
According to SpaceX, the rocket and capsule are in good condition. The four civilian passengers are also ready to launch. Over the years, hundreds of people have walked in space, but — with the exception of one spaceflight — they have all been professional, trained astronauts.
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SpaceX hopes Polaris Dawn, as the mission is called, can still depart tomorrow. One of the passengers is entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who is paying for the trip. He also flew a commercial spaceflight in 2021. That was the first mission with only civilians on board, but they didn’t do a spacewalk at the time. This time, he’s flying with Cade Poteet, Sarah Gillies and Anna Menon.
Departure times
Polaris Dawn will leave tomorrow, provided the issues are resolved, at 9:38 a.m. Dutch time. If the launch fails, there is still the option of lifting off at 11:23 a.m. or 1:09 p.m.
The spacecraft will first fly in an elliptical orbit around Earth, with a maximum distance of about 1,400 kilometers from Earth. The last time humans went that far in space was on the last mission to the Moon in 1972.
On the third day of the flight, Isaacman and another passenger will do a spacewalk. SpaceX has designed special spacesuits for this purpose. The flight will take no more than fifteen minutes.
Passengers will land five days later off the coast of Florida.
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