The Polaris Dawn mission aiming for the first commercial spacewalk is now delayed indefinitely after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the entire SpaceX fleet of Falcon 9 rockets.
The initial Polaris Dawn launch originally slated for earlier this week was already delayed due to weather off the coast of Florida that would have impacted the splash down of the Dragon capsule being used for the mission, SpaceX said on its Polaris mission page.
On Wednesday, a Starlink satellite mission launched out of the U.S. Space Force station at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on another Falcon 9 rocket. After ascending successfully, however, the rocket’s first stage booster attempted to land on a drone ship but tipped over instead, SpaceX said in a post on X, also owned by billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.
There were no reported injuries or property damage as a result of the tip-over at sea, but it prompted the FAA to launch an investigation.
“The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX Starlink Group 8-6 mission that launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station … The FAA is requiring an investigation,” the FAA said in a statement.
Falcon 9 rockets have now been grounded for the second time this summer after a previous grounding in July, according to Reuters.
“A return to flight of the Falcon 9 booster rocket is based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the anomaly does not affect public safety,” the FAA said, according to Reuters.
Polaris Dawn’s crew includes billionaire Jared Isaacman, who helped subsidize part of the mission’s costs, according to Bloomberg; former U.S. Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.
Mr. Isaacman previously flew to orbit with SpaceX in 2021.
There is neither a timetable for the FAA investigation nor a new projected launch date for Polaris Dawn, according to the Florida Today newspaper.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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