10 months ago
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (NewsNation) — SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission, poised to marque past arsenic the archetypal backstage spacewalk, was delayed by astatine slightest 24 hours.
The mission, a risky endeavor antecedently undertaken lone by authorities astronauts, primitively acceptable to instrumentality spot Tuesday astatine NASA's Kennedy Space Center successful Florida, volition present hap Wednesday between 3:38 and 7:09 a.m. ET.
If needed, backup opportunities are disposable Thursday astatine the aforesaid time, SpaceX said.
Why was the ngo rescheduled?
SpaceX said the motorboat was delayed to inspect "a ground-side helium leak” successful instrumentality designed to detach from the rocket during takeoff.
"Falcon and Dragon stay steadfast and the unit continues to beryllium acceptable for their multi-day ngo to low-Earth orbit," Space X wrote successful a societal media post.
Who are the astronauts doing the spacewalk?
Billionaire Jared Isaacman, who antecedently flew to orbit with SpaceX successful 2021, volition beryllium starring the crew, joined by erstwhile Air Force aviator Scott "Kidd" Poteet and 2 SpaceX engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
The Polaris Dawn unit volition people the world's first-ever civilian spacewalk, acceptable caller records for the highest spaceflight by pistillate astronauts and endeavor to scope the highest Earth orbit ever flown since the Apollo program.
Additionally, during the historical mission, the unit volition walk 5 days successful orbit, conducting astir 40 probe studies and experiments, including investigating caller orbital Starlink laser-based communications and caller SpaceX-developed EVA suits successful Earth's radiation belts.
