A SpaceX capsule carrying four private citizens will have its launch into space delayed due to a helium leak that has forced the launch to be delayed until at least the end of this week.
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillies and Anna Menon were scheduled to fly into space on a mission that would include the first spacewalk by a civilian crew.
The mission, known as Polaris Dawn, was scheduled to launch early Tuesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, SpaceX announced on X that due to a helium leak the launch was delayed until Wednesday at the latest.
“Teams are taking a closer look at the helium leak on the ground side of the Quick Disconnect umbilical,” the company wrote. “Falcon and Dragon remain healthy, and the crew remains ready for a multi-day mission in low Earth orbit.”
The helium leak was a setback for SpaceX, which has been flying NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station since 2020. In 2021, SpaceX launched its first private citizens into orbit on a flight that Isaacman also funded and participated in to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
The spacewalk is scheduled for the third day of the mission. Two crew members are expected to exit the Crew Dragon spacecraft on a tether, but because the spacecraft does not have a pressurized airlock, all four astronauts will don new spacesuits and the entire capsule will be depressurized and exposed to a vacuum.
Previously, only astronauts from government space agencies were sent into the vacuum of space to build or upgrade space stations in orbit, repair satellites, and conduct scientific experiments.
The Crew Dragon capsule It is expected to rise to an altitude of up to 870 miles above Earth's surface, more than three times the altitude of the International Space Station's orbit, and far enough to pass through the inner regions of the Van Allen radiation belt – a zone of high-energy radiation particles trapped by Earth's magnetosphere.
The Polaris Dawn mission will record the effects of space radiation on astronauts and the vehicle. The study could help SpaceX plan missions to the Moon and Mars that would require astronauts to fly through the inner and outer Van Allen radiation belts.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned space missions that Isaacman is funding and managing with SpaceX. He did not disclose the cost of the program or the possible goals and timing of other missions.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com