SpaceX schedules early Tuesday for historic Polaris Dawn launch
The private astronauts are expected to conduct the first-ever commercial spacewalk in history on the mission and fly farther into space than any human has flown since the Apollo missions ended in the early 1970s.
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SpaceX has set early Tuesday for the launch of the historic Polaris Dawn mission from Florida's coast. (Photo courtesy of SpaceX/X)
Sept. 9 (UPI) -- SpaceX late Sunday announced it has scheduled early Tuesday for its historic launch of the manned Polaris Dawn mission following multiple delays.
The Elon Musk-owned company said in a statement that it has set 3:38 a.m. EDT for the mission's launch from Florida's Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Two additional launch opportunities have been identified within a four-hour window -- at 5:23 a.m. and 7:09 a.m. -- with backup opportunities available at the same times on Wednesday.
It said on X, another property owned by Musk, that weather was 40% favorable for the Tuesday liftoff and conditions at the possible splashdown sites for the crew's return to Earth remain "a watch item."
"This is a big improvement over the last two weeks," billionaire philanthropist Jared Isaacman, who is leading the mission, said in response on X.
"We are getting closer to getting this mission to orbit."
The four-man Polaris Dawn crew is to launch into space aboard a Dragon capsule where they will spend five days in low-Earth orbit.
They are expected to conduct the first-ever commercial spacewalk in history on the mission and fly farther into space than any human has flown since the Apollo missions ended in the early 1970s.
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