SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn Mission Faces Weather Delays, Awaits Launch Window for Record-Breaking Flight

SpaceX is gearing up for another attempt to launch the Polaris Dawn mission, a privately funded endeavor aiming to break the post-Apollo altitude record and conduct the first non-government commercial spacewalk, CBS News reports.

However, the launch, originally scheduled for Tuesday morning, has been delayed due to unfavorable weather conditions.

The four-person crew, comprised of billionaire commander Jared Isaacman, pilot Scott Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, were set to board their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule early Tuesday morning. But persistent bad weather along Florida’s Space Coast and at the off-shore splashdown zones forced SpaceX to postpone the launch.

“This is a big improvement over the last two weeks. We are getting closer to getting this mission to orbit,” Isaacman shared on social media Sunday night, expressing his optimism despite the delays.

The Polaris Dawn mission is the second SpaceX trip to low-Earth orbit chartered by Isaacman, founder of one of the nation’s leading credit card transaction processors. In 2021, he funded and commanded the Inspiration4 mission, the first all-civilian commercial flight to orbit.

The launch was initially planned for August 26th but faced multiple setbacks, including a 24-hour delay for pre-flight processing and another 24-hour postponement due to a leak in a launch pad umbilical.

While systems were deemed “go” by the afternoon of August 27th, unfavorable weather conditions ultimately scuttled those plans, leading to a day-by-day delay until a suitable launch window could be found.

The Polaris Dawn mission represents the first of three more SpaceX flights Isaacman is funding in cooperation with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, with the key distinction of featuring the first non-government, civilian spacewalks.

“Sometimes, the hardest journeys require the most patience, and we’re ready to wait for the right moment,” Isaacman previously said.

The crew aims to achieve one of the mission’s primary objectives within hours of launch: reaching an orbit with a high point (apogee) of 870 miles and a low point (perigee) of 118 miles. In contrast, the International Space Station orbits at an altitude of about 260 miles.

At the peak of the Crew Dragon’s elliptical orbit, Isaacman and his crew will be farther from Earth than any piloted spacecraft since the end of the Apollo moon program. The spacecraft will spend approximately 10 hours in this extremely elliptical orbit before its thrusters fire again, lowering the apogee to 435 miles.