SpaceX's ‘Polaris Dawn’ mission postponed due to helium leak in ground equipment

The launch of Space's four-person ‘Polaris Dawn’ mission was postponed by a day to Wednesday, August 28, due to a helium leak in ground equipment.

The launch of Space's four-person ‘Polaris Dawn’ mission was postponed by a day to Wednesday, August 28, due to a helium leak in ground equipment at Kennedy Space Center, the Elon Musk-led company said, just hours before the scheduled lift-off.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon Resilience capsule sits on Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center ahead of the Polaris Dawn Mission (AFP)

“Teams are taking a closer look at a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical. Falcon and Dragon remain healthy and the crew continues to be ready for their multi-day mission to low-Earth orbit. Next launch opportunity is no earlier than Wednesday, August 28,” SpaceX wrote in a post on X.

Details of ‘Polaris Dawn’ mission

SpaceX's ‘Polaris Dawn’ is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program - a human spaceflight project funded and organised by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. The mission features a spacewalk by civilians that has only been attempted by government astronauts.

Issacman will command the mission and will be joined aboard the mission's Crew Dragon capsule by three crewmates: pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet, a former lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force, and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX engineers.

During the mission, the Dragon spacecraft and the crew will endeavour to reach the highest Earth orbit ever flown since the Apollo program and participate in the first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA) by commercial astronauts wearing SpaceX-developed EVA suits, SpaceX said in a statement.

“They will also conduct 36 research studies and experiments from 31 partner institutions designed to advance both human health on Earth and during long-duration spaceflight, and test Starlink laser-based communications in space,” it added.

The highlight of the five-day mission is expected to come two days after launch, when the crew embarks on a 20-minute spacewalk 434 miles (700 km) from Earth, in history's first such private spacewalk.

Meanwhile, a live webcast of the mission will begin around three and a half hours prior to the liftoff.