SpaceX Launches Spacewalk Mission
SpaceX launches Polaris Dawn mission from Florida after multiple weather delays
Initially planned to launch on Aug. 27, the Polaris Dawn mission faced weather and technical delays. The company skipped any launch attempts last week as days of storms would have prevented a safe splashdown for the Dragon on either Florida coast in the event of a launch abort.
By Emilee Speck, Aaron Barker
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – SpaceX launched the Polaris Dawn mission, the first private spacewalking mission, after multiple delays due to Florida’s recent rainy weather pattern.
SpaceX said the Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying Mission Commander Jared Isaacman, Mission Pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX employees Sara Gillis and Anna Menon was launched into low-Earth orbit at 5:23 a.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center launchpad 39A.
Initially planned to launch on Aug. 27, the Polaris Dawn mission faced weather and technical delays. The company skipped any launch attempts last week as days of storms would have prevented a safe splashdown for the Dragon on either Florida coast in the event of a launch abort.
“The primary factor driving the launch timing for Polaris Dawn is the splashdown weather within Dragon’s limits. Unlike an ISS mission, we don’t have the option to delay long on orbit, so we must ensure the forecast is as favorable as possible before we launch,” Isaacman recently wrote on X.
According to SpaceX, Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth and landed on the company’s droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Boeing unavailable for comment.
Category: Science and Technology
What could go wrong….?
Well, space is always risky– just don’t ask for trouble by being crappy like Boeing.
DEI for the win…
Since space isn’t working out for them, at least they can fall back on their 737 business.
Sad to see this all relegated to private sector corporations, we used to see our government engaged in great things such as exploration and cutting edge tech for scientific advances….
Now we can’t defend our border and believe those who invade the nation should be entitled to resources denied many of our own citizens….all while spending money to make sure Pakistanis are more sensitive to gender transition issues…
Whiskey tango foxtrot?
If you want to get it done at hideously high cost and inefficiency, have the government do it. If you want to git ‘er done efficiently and cheaply, let private industry profit and let them compete.
I’ve been telling people for decades that it’s going to take space exploration being a commercial venture before we see major steps forward in this area. It makes sense this way. The Age of Discovery/Exploration and the associated colonization/conquest were largely commercial ventures that looked to the monarchies as one of the funding sources.
As with the colonial period, commercialization and the money potential is going to cause an explosion in this arena and bring us into a true space exploration and colonization. The spinoff that we’re going to get from this…
Besides, the free market tends to find ways to do things more effectively and efficiently, which gives them an advantage over the bureaucracy infested government.
To boldly go where no man has gone before and bring a few babes too!
God Speed!
Enjoy your walk-about, Ladies. And come home safely. Remember that walking in space is different from walking thru the mall. The shoe stores up there keep weird hours. “Does this space suit make me look fat?”
Take a rocket to Millinocket.
https://youtu.be/Gbfnh1oVTk0
I saw the space craft (or what it caused) in the sky as I was finishing up my predawn distance run. Orion, Canis Major (including Sirius), Gemini, Jupiter, and Mars were in the background as the space craft tracked northeast.
How come you can’t find any astronauts at the space center at noon.
Ans. there out to launch
That joke never got off the ground.
Would be funny if they have enough cabin room and leftover delta-v to visit the ISS and offer a ride home to the stranded astronauts.
At least it’s not a Boeing capsule…the space walker might not be able to get back in.
Im just going to leave this here