Polaris Dawn: Follow the launch live after mission postponement
Following the postponement of the Polaris Dawn mission, a new launch date has been set. The launch can be followed live.
An illustration of the planned external deployment on the Polaris Dawn mission.
(Image: Polaris Dawn / SpaceX)
Following the postponed launch of US billionaire Jared Isaacman's private space mission "Polaris Dawn" due to a helium leak in a supply line, the next launch date has now been set. The four-person crew aboard the Dragon capsule will lift off on August 28 at 3:38 a.m. U.S. Eastern Standard Time (9:38 a.m. CEST) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This was announced by SpaceX on Tuesday. The mission was originally scheduled to begin on Tuesday morning.
The Falcon 9 rocket is now scheduled to take off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The plan is for the crew to reach the highest Earth orbit since the Apollo program around 50 years ago during their five-day mission. To this end, the crew will move in an elliptical orbit at an altitude of 1400 km. At an altitude of around 1000 km, Polaris Dawn will pass through the inner Van Allen belt, one of Earth's two permanent radiation belts. High-energy protons are located there, which move back and forth at high speed in the Earth's magnetic field between the poles and increase the astronauts' exposure to radiation.
Research and experiments
An extravehicular activity at an altitude of 700 km is also planned, the first ever for a commercial crew. As the Dragon capsule does not have an airlock, an external hatch to space will be opened for this purpose. The astronauts will then be exposed to the vacuum of space inside the capsule. The new space suits developed by SpaceX will be tested.
In addition, around 36 research studies and experiments will be carried out by 31 partner institutions. The aim of the research is to improve human health on Earth and to investigate the effects of long-duration flights on humans. Laser-based Starlink communication in space, similar to the data communication tested by NASA, will also be tested.
A launch of the Falcon 9 rocket is possible within a four-hour time window; if the first launch date has to be postponed, two further launch dates are possible, at 5:23 am and 7:09 am US East Coast time.
If you would like to follow the launch live, you can do so on the SpaceX website or on X (formerly Twitter).
(olb)