The launch of SpaceX’s four-person Polaris Dawn mission will be delayed by at least a day because of a helium leak in ground equipment at Kennedy Space Center, the company said Tuesday, hours before the Crew Dragon capsule was set to launch.
The mission’s highlight is expected to come two days after liftoff, when the crew will embark on the first-ever spacewalk by a private company. Liftoff, carried by a Falcon 9 rocket, is currently expected at 3:38 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the company said in a post on X.
“Teams are taking a closer look at the helium leak on the ground,” the post added Tuesday. “Falcon and Dragon remain healthy, and the crew remains ready for a multi-day mission to low Earth orbit.”
Until now, spacewalks have been performed only by government astronauts, most recently passengers on the International Space Station, who regularly don spacesuits to perform maintenance and other checks on their orbital home.
The first American spacewalk took place in 1965 aboard a Gemini capsule, using a procedure similar to that planned for Polaris Dawn: the capsule was depressurized, the hatch was opened, and an astronaut in a spacesuit stepped out on a tether. The Polaris Dawn crew will test SpaceX’s new, sleek spacesuits during the spacewalk.
Only two of the four people — billionaire Jared Isaacman, mission pilot Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both senior engineers at the company — will leave the spacecraft.
Isaacman, founder of electronic payments company Shift4, funded the mission but declined to disclose how much he spent, which is estimated to be more than $100 million.
