We’ll have to wait a little longer to see the first-ever private spacewalk.
SpaceX It is scheduled to be released in mid to late August. Polaris Dawn The mission was funded by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 The rocket was scheduled to launch Until July 31 .
SpaceX announced the delay today (July 26) during a press conference highlighting the company’s future plans. Crew 9 Astronaut Mission To International Space Station (ISS) National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Crew 9 could launch as early as August 18, with Polaris Dawn scheduled to fly after that, the company said.
“There’s a lot going on at the ISS right now,” said Sarah Walker, SpaceX’s ISS director. Dragon “We have selected to fly the Crew 9 mission as our next mission,” the head of mission management said at a press conference today. [astronaut] “We will accomplish that mission and once we have fulfilled that obligation, we will be ready to fly Polaris Dawn in late summer.”
Later in the press conference, Walker clarified that “late summer” meant next month, saying, “Currently, we are on track to launch Polaris Dawn in August.”
Related: How SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn astronauts will attempt the first-ever ‘all-private’ spacewalk
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions. Polaris Program Inspiration 4
The Polaris Dawn crew consists of Isaacman, pilot Scott Kidd-Poteet (retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col.), and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, both SpaceX engineers.
Like Inspiration 4, Polaris Dawn will be a free-flyer orbiting Earth on its own, rather than attached to the ISS. But the upcoming mission will be higher in altitude than its predecessor, and will have at least one additional orbital flight. Spacewalk This is the first-ever civilian spacewalk.
This isn’t the first delay for Polaris Dawn. Late 2022 But this complex and ambitious mission has been repeatedly postponed.
Today’s press conference is unusual. Falcon 9 accident During the July 11 launch, the rocket’s upper stage failed to complete its scheduled orbit-raising burn, resulting in the loss of SpaceX’s 20 payloads. Starlink Internet satellite.
The immediate cause was a liquid oxygen leak. SpaceX has Linear cracks The pressure sensor in the upper stage liquid oxygen system had a malfunction, and measures are being taken to prevent the problem from recurring. Recovery early Saturday morning (July 27th), another Starlink launch took place.
