SpaceX Polaris launch postponed after helium leak is detected

SpaceX Polaris Launch Delayed Due to Helium Leak

The launch of a SpaceX capsule carrying four private citizens has been postponed after a helium leak forced a delay, pushing the earliest possible launch to later this week.

Billionaire Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet, along with SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, were set to embark on a mission that includes the first-ever civilian spacewalk.

The mission, known as Polaris Dawn, was initially scheduled for an early Tuesday launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, SpaceX announced on X that a helium leak on the ground-side Quick Disconnect umbilical has postponed the launch until at least Wednesday.

The company assured that both the Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule remain in good condition, and the crew is prepared for their multi-day mission to low-Earth orbit. Despite the setback, SpaceX’s record of ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station since 2020 remains strong. The company first carried private citizens into orbit in 2021, in a mission funded by Isaacman to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The highlight of Polaris Dawn is scheduled for the mission’s third day: a spacewalk by two crew members tethered to the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Because the spacecraft lacks a pressurized airlock, all four astronauts will don newly designed spacesuits as the entire capsule is depressurized, exposing it to the vacuum of space. This will mark the first time civilians venture into the vacuum of space, a task previously undertaken only by government astronauts during space station construction, satellite repairs, and scientific experiments.

The Crew Dragon capsule is expected to reach an altitude of up to 870 miles above Earth, more than three times the height of the International Space Station. This trajectory will take the capsule through the inner regions of the Van Allen radiation belt, an area of high-energy radiation particles trapped by Earth’s magnetosphere.

During the flight, Polaris Dawn will monitor the effects of space radiation on the astronauts and the spacecraft. The data collected could be crucial for SpaceX’s future missions to the moon and Mars, which would require passing through both the inner and outer Van Allen radiation belts.

Polaris Dawn is the first of three spaceflights that Isaacman is funding and coordinating with SpaceX. While the cost of the program and the specifics of the subsequent missions remain undisclosed, the objectives of these ambitious expeditions are highly anticipated.