SpaceX defies difficult weather conditions and launches Polaris Dawn astronaut mission – Spaceflight Now

Update 6:06 a.m. EDT: Crew Dragon Resilience has separated from the Falcon 9 upper stage.

Despite difficult weather conditions early in the launch window, SpaceX succeeded in launching the Polaris Dawn commercial astronaut mission into low Earth orbit on the second of three available launch opportunities.

The predawn launch marked the beginning of the journey for four astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Resilience. The Falcon 9 rocket supporting the flight lifted off at 5:23 a.m. EDT (09:23 UTC) Tuesday.

“You are embarking on a journey not just for yourselves, but for all of humanity. Each of you has trained tirelessly and prepared rigorously for this moment, the moment when we will go higher into space than ever before,” said Frank Messina, Polaris Dawn launch director. “As you look toward the North Star, remember that your courage lights the way for future explorers.”

“We trust in your skills, courage and teamwork to accomplish the mission ahead. Rest assured that the team here is with you every step of the way, watching, supporting and cheering you on as you head into space. We send you hugs from the ground. Good luck, Polaris Dawn crew. May you make history and come home safely.”

“Dragon, CE (chief engineer), welcome to orbit. The Dragon team is honored to help you launch your incredible journey,” added Jared Metter, chief engineer of the Polaris Dawn mission. “We hope you enjoyed the trip. The entire SpaceX family is looking up to you. Good luck and safe travels.”

“We appreciate the kind words. Without the 14,000 of you at SpaceX and everyone else cheering us on, we wouldn’t be on this journey,” said mission commander Jared Isaacman. “We appreciate it and now we’re getting to work.”

Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program and will include the first commercial spacewalk, an in-orbit demonstration of Starlink, and will take the crew farther from Earth than humanity has ever gone since the end of the Apollo era.

The crew includes Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments and commander of the Inspiration4 mission, former U.S. Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. Gillis and Menon were the first current SpaceX employees to fly into space.

The mission is a free flight of Resilience that will last a little over five days in total. For this reason, SpaceX also needed good recovery weather for the splashdown off the coast of Florida.

After an initial issue with ground systems on the first launch attempt, weather during the water landing was the sticking point that has kept this mission grounded until now. In its post announcing the new planned launch date on X (formerly Twitter), SpaceX said that “conditions at the potential water landing sites for Dragon’s return to Earth continue to be a concern.”

“This is a big improvement over the last two weeks,” Isaacman said in a post on X before the launch. “We are getting closer to getting this mission into orbit.”

Before launch, the National Hurricane Center tracked Tropical Storm Francine in the Gulf of Mexico and two other storm systems moving across the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

“An elongated low pressure system over the central tropical Atlantic is producing some disorganized rain showers and thunderstorms,” ​​the NHC wrote. “Environmental conditions appear to be only moderately conducive to light development over the next few days, but a tropical depression could still form during this time as the system moves westward across the central tropical Atlantic at 5 to 10 mph.”

The Falcon 9 rocket supporting the mission, tail number B1083 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for the fourth time on this flight. It previously supported the Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station and launched two batches of SpaceX Starlink internet satellites into low Earth orbit.

With the Crew Dragon spacecraft on top, the launch vehicle is 213.3 feet (65 m) tall. Named Resilience, the Dragon made its third trip into space after launching both the Crew-1 mission and Inspiration4, Isaacman’s first trip beyond Earth.

Because Resilience will be placed into a 190 x 1,200 km (118 x 746 mi) orbit with an inclination of 51.6 degrees, B1083 will land on the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions approximately 9.5 minutes after launch.

Time was running out to get this mission off the ground. NASA needs SpaceX to prepare the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A for the launch of a Falcon Heavy. This rocket will be needed to launch NASA’s Europa Clipper mission on its way to the Galilean moon Europa.

The planetary launch window opens on October 10, and converting the launch pad from a Falcon 9 to a Falcon Heavy configuration will take weeks.

“SpaceX continues to improve and shorten processing schedules for the LC-39A pad changeover during the Falcon 9 to Falcon Heavy configuration changeover,” said Tim Dunn, lead launch director for NASA’s Launch Services Program. “LSP will leverage these improvements for the Europa Clipper mission. The exact number of days needed for the configuration changeover has not yet been determined, but it will be less than 25 days.”