The launch of four civilians on a privately chartered spaceflight — the Polaris Dawn, featuring the first commercial spacewalk — is on track for early Wednesday after a 24-hour delay to resolve a helium leak in a launch pad umbilical system.
Jared Isaacman, the flight’s billionaire commander, former F-16 pilot Scott Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, plan to blast off Wednesday at 3:38 a.m. EDT, kicking off a 12-minute climb to an elliptical orbit that will carry them higher than any astronauts have flown since the Apollo moon program.
The launch was originally planned for Monday, but the flight was delayed 24 hours to complete normal pre-flight processing. Another 24-hour slip then was ordered after engineers discovered a leak in a launch pad umbilical that delivers helium to the booster to push propellants to the rocket’s engines.
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The launch of four civilians on a privately chartered spaceflight — the Polaris Dawn, featuring the first commercial spacewalk — is on track for early Wednesday after a 24-hour delay to resolve a helium leak in a launch pad umbilical system.
Jared Isaacman, the flight’s billionaire commander, former F-16 pilot Scott Poteet and two SpaceX engineers, Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, plan to blast off Wednesday at 3:38 a.m. EDT, kicking off a 12-minute climb to an elliptical orbit that will carry them higher than any astronauts have flown since the Apollo moon program.
The launch was originally planned for Monday, but the flight was delayed 24 hours to complete normal pre-flight processing. Another 24-hour slip then was ordered after engineers discovered a leak in a launch pad umbilical that delivers helium to the booster to push propellants to the rocket’s engines.
**Read more:** [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polaris-dawn-spacex-prepares-delayed-launch-commercial-spacewalk-mission/](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polaris-dawn-spacex-prepares-delayed-launch-commercial-spacewalk-mission/)