Civilian space-walk flight Polaris Dawn set for Monday after latest delay

The Polaris Dawn mission featuring the first civilian space walk is now set for Monday following repeated delays due to unfavorable weather and the Federal Aviation Administration grounding of the SpaceX rocket that will launch it into orbit.

The five-day trip led by billionaire Jared Isaacman is scheduled to blast off from Kennedy Space Center on Monday, with a backup launch date on Tuesday should the weather prove unfavorable or other problems arise.

The mission had been set to launch Friday after the FAA cleared SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket for flight. The agency had grounded SpaceX’s fleet of Falcon 9 rockets on Aug. 28 after the reusable first-stage booster of a Falcon 9 fell over and exploded while trying to land on a barge off the Florida coast on another mission.

That launch date was pushed late this week to Monday.

The crew is taking the journey aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which was developed by Elon Musk’s Hawthorne company to service the International Space Station. However, because the mission is not docking with the station and has limited supplies, weather conditions must be good for both the launch and splashdown off the Florida coast.

Polaris Dawn had been scheduled to launch last week but was first delayed due to a helium leak in a launch pad hose that pumps helium into the Falcon 9 engines. Unfavorable conditions forecast off the Florida coast prompted additional delays.

Isaacman, a fintech billionaire, is funding the flight. Accompanying him are three other crew members, including two SpaceX employees. They will be boosted into the highest Earth orbit since the Apollo program, and on the third day Isaacman and a second crew member are set to be the first civilians to walk in space.

The crew will be testing a new generation of form-fitting space suits that SpaceX says will be necessary to colonize the moon and Mars.