SpaceX Polaris launch postponed after helium leak is detected
A SpaceX capsule carrying four private citizens will have to wait to launch into space after a helium leak forced a launch delay until later this week at the earliest.
A SpaceX capsule carrying four private citizens will have to wait to launch into space after a helium leak forced a launch delay until later this week at the earliest.
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon were scheduled to launch into space on a mission that was to include the first spacewalk carried out by a civilian crew.
The mission, known as Polaris Dawn, had been scheduled to lift off early Tuesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, SpaceX announced on X that a helium leak delayed the launch until Wednesday at the earliest.
"Teams are taking a closer look at a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical," the company wrote. "Falcon and Dragon remain healthy and the crew continues to be ready for their multi-day mission to low-Earth orbit."
The helium leak was a setback for SpaceX, which has been ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station since 2020. SpaceX carried its first private citizens into orbit in 2021 on a flight that Isaacman also funded and took part in to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Rating: 5