Elon Musk‘s spacecraft manufacturing company SpaceX said on Sunday that it is now looking to launch its all-civilian Polaris Dawn mission after multiple delays on Sept. 10.
What Happened: SpaceX is now planning to launch the mission to space from Florida on Tuesday at 3:38 a.m. ET. There are two additional launch opportunities at 5:23 a.m. ET and 7:09 a.m. on the same day, the company said.
“Weather is currently 40% favorable for liftoff, and conditions at the possible splashdown sites for Dragon's return to Earth remain a watch item,” SpaceX said on Sunday, hinting that the mission might be delayed yet again if the weather conditions are deemed not favorable.
The Polaris Dawn mission was initially slated to launch in late August but has been postponed multiple times since owing to a helium leak and unfavorable weather forecast. SpaceX is prioritizing crew safety given the increased risk associated with the mission, Musk previously explained.
Why It Matters: Polaris Dawn is the first of up to three human spaceflight missions planned under the Polaris program founded by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft and the all-civilian Polaris Crew composed of four including its mission commander Isaacman, Kidd Poteet, Sarah Gillis, and Anna Menon will spend up to five days in orbit. While Isaacman and Poteet work together at Shift4, Gillis and Menon are SpaceX engineers.
The key objective of the mission is to conduct a spacewalk nearly 435 miles above the Earth — marking the first-ever spacewalk by a commercial company. While space agency NASA routinely conducts extravehicular activities, no private player has attempted it before, making this a landmark mission for SpaceX and commercial spaceflight companies.
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Photo courtesy: SpaceX
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