If all goes well, the Polaris Dawn mission liftoff is scheduled for 3:38 am EDT on Tuesday, August 27. Two days from now, Elon Musk‘s SpaceX will race towards completing the historic first commercial spacewalk. Meanwhile, NASA has also fallen back on the billionaire’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission to check off the major responsibility of rescuing Sunita Williams and Barry E “Butch” Wilmore, NASA astronauts stuck in space for over two months.
On Sunday, August 25, Elon Musk’s company officially confirmed that the full rehearsal of launch day activities had been completed. “Polaris Dawn and SpaceX completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities ahead of liftoff on Tuesday,” the astronautics company wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
More about the Polaris Dawn mission
Though poised to make history, the new SpaceX mission is not without its risks. It is scheduled to launch on Tuesday and will send four people to orbit for five days aboard a Crew Dragon capsule. Two of these will perform the first-ever private spacewalk, which is also expected to expose them to a radiation belt.
US billionaire and experienced aviator Jared Isaacman will serve as the mission commander. Meanwhile, retired US Air Force Lt Col Scott “Kid Poteet” will lead as the pilot. Other Polaris Dawn crew members include SpaceX’s Sarah Gills and Anna Menon.
Also read | LeBron James replacement reportedly cooking at Lakers amid team-up rumours with Steph Curry
Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore to be rescued by Elon Musk’s SpaceX after all
This update comes a day after NASA’s formal review on Saturday to determine whether the Boeing Starliner would ensure a safe journey home for the crew members onboard. Despite Boeing’s high confidence in early August, insisting that its spacecraft would be able to bring Williams and Wilmore back to Earth, the US space agency went a different way.
“NASA has decided that Butch and Suni will return with Crew-9 next February, and that Starliner will return uncrewed,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said. The astronaut duo’s return was originally delayed indefinitely due to the Boeing spacecraft’s thruster malfunctions and other issues like helium leaks.
“We have had mistakes done in the past: We lost two space shuttles as a result of there not being a culture in which information could come forward,” Nelson added. “Spaceflight is risky, even at its safest and even at its most routine. And a test flight, by nature, is neither safe, nor routine.”
Also read | Apple juice sold at Walmart recalled in multiple US states over arsenic levels
On the other hand, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who initially took off on the Boeing Starliner on June 5 for eight days, are now expected to make their Earth return in February 2025, spending around eight months in orbit.
During their time in space, Wilmore and Williams supported further tests, data analysis, and other maintenance tasks.
An excerpt from the NASA Commercial Crew’s Saturday tweet reads: “Wilmore and Williams will continue their work formally as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew through February 2025. They will fly home aboard a Dragon spacecraft with two other crew members assigned to the agency’s SpaceX #Crew9 mission.”
The Boeing rival has reconfigured its Crew-9 mission to carry two astronauts instead of four, as initially planned. This reshuffling opens up two seats for Williams and Wilmore, who will be joining the Crew-9 members.
This Crew Dragon spacecraft launch, initially scheduled for August 18, has been delayed to September 24
