A helium leak forced the launch of a SpaceX capsule carrying four private citizens for the mission ‘Polaris Dawn’ to be postponed. Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force Lt Col Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon were among those who boarded this capsule according to NBC News.
This is the first mission with non-professional astronauts and would have been marked by the first civilian spacewalk.
Delay in mission due to technical issue
Scheduled for early Tuesday Polaris Dawn was supposed to lift off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida but SpaceX says it has had to delay it until no earlier than Wednesday due to a helium leak.
“Falcon and Dragon remain healthy and the crew continues to be ready for their multi-day mission to low-Earth orbit,” said SpaceX on X.
SpaceX’s Doggedness at Exploring Space
The move is a blow to SpaceX, which has been ferrying Nasa astronauts to International Space Station since 2020. Last year Isaacman financed a flight for private individuals into space with the goal of getting money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Polaris Dawn mission will climax on day three when two crew members take up spacewalk by holding onto the Crew Dragon spacecraft. There is no pressurized airlock so the entire capsule will be depressurized and all four crew members will experience vacuum wearing newly designed spacesuits.
Why Polaris Dawn Mission Is Important
The vacuum of space has mostly been explored by government astronauts only who typically build or upgrade space stations, repair satellites or even conduct scientific experiments.
The Crew Dragon Spacecraft for this mission is designed to go about 870 miles above the surface of the Earth. This is higher than the International Space Station (ISS) by over three times and will take it through the inner region of Van Allen radiation belt. A high-radiation area containing energetic particles trapped by Earth’s magnetosphere.
The Polaris Mission, Dawn, will also provide data on how space radiation impacts astronauts as well as spacecraft. The research aims at helping SpaceX in planning future missions to the Moon and Mars that navigate through both inner and outer Van Allen radiation belts.
This flight is part of a series of three launches envisaged under Isaacman’s Polaris program funded and organized along with SpaceX. The cost of the program has not been revealed, nor are there any details concerning objectives or schedules for future expeditions.
