SpaceX announces delay of humanity's first commercial spacewalk

Recently, news of the delay of the highly anticipated SpaceX's first commercial spacewalk plan - the "Polaris Dawn" mission has spread.

On August 26 local time, SpaceX posted on the social media platform X to announce that the "Polaris Dawn" mission originally scheduled for the 27th has been canceled due to the detection of a helium leak by the launch team. SpaceX said that the Falcon rocket and the crewed Dragon spacecraft are in good condition. The launch team will continue to prepare for the multi-day low Earth orbit mission. The next launch opportunity will be no earlier than the 28th.

It is understood that the "Polaris Dawn" mission was initially announced in 2022. It was mainly initiated by American billionaire Jared Isaacman and aims to "break through SpaceX's technological limits and pave the way for humanity's long-term presence in space." In this mission, SpaceX's crewed Dragon spacecraft will carry four astronauts, including Isaacman himself, retired US Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, Anna Menon, SpaceX's chief engineer for space operations, and Sarah Gilles, former director of NASA's medical biological flight and current head of SpaceX's astronaut training program. They will complete a series of tests in a five-day orbit about 1,400 kilometers from the Earth, including the first commercial spacewalk, a research plan on human health in space, and a test of equipping spacecraft with "Starlink" Internet communication.

According to the original plan, on the third day of the mission, two of the crew members will conduct a brief spacewalk and live stream the whole process. However, due to the unexpected situation of helium leakage, the feat of spacewalking has to be postponed.

SpaceX has been committed to promoting the commercialization and innovative development of space exploration. The delay of this commercial spacewalk plan undoubtedly brings some regrets to people who are looking forward to this historical moment. But SpaceX said it will carefully investigate the problem to ensure the safe conduct of subsequent missions. All sectors are also closely following the follow-up progress of the plan and looking forward to the smooth realization of humanity's first commercial spacewalk at an appropriate time. Currently, SpaceX plans to launch the Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:38 am on Wednesday, August 28, Eastern Time in the United States, and send the "Polaris Dawn" rocket into low Earth orbit. And there are two more launch opportunities within these four hours, at 5:23 am and 7:09 am. If necessary, there is a backup launch opportunity at the same time on Thursday, August 29.