The SpaceX and Polaris Dawn teams checked a couple of important boxes before they were ready to launch the historic commercial mission.
A little less than a week after arriving on Florida’s Space Coast, the four astronauts went over all the activities they will experience on launch day, including suiting up and climbing aboard Crew Dragon Resilience, which will be their home for the roughly five-day mission.
Following a dry-fire test, SpaceX cleared the pad at Launch Complex 39A to conduct a static-fire test of its Falcon 9 rocket. The test ignition took place at 6:38 a.m. EDT (1038 UTC).
The engine burn lasted about 11 seconds in total. SpaceX engineers took the data collected during the operation and will review it as they make final preparations ahead of launch.
The Falcon 9 first-stage rocket supporting this mission, B1083 in SpaceX's fleet, will make its fourth trip to space when it launches no earlier than Tuesday morning. It previously launched the Crew-8 mission aboard the Dragon Endeavour spacecraft in March, as well as two Starlink flights.
The SpaceX drone that will be used to catch the rocket after its pending launch, “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” set sail from Port Canaveral on Saturday afternoon.
Polaris Dawn and SpaceX completed a full rehearsal of launch day activities prior to liftoff on Tuesday image.twitter.com/qz2RD5bnVM
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 25, 2024
The Polaris Dawn mission will take the four-member crew — Jared Isaacman, Scott “Kidd” Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon — farther than humans have gone since Apollo 17 in 1972 and witness the completion of the first commercial spacewalk.
It is the result of more than two and a half years of development, testing and training at SpaceX and NASA facilities.
“SpaceX, the teams and crew, with your help, continue to push the boundaries of what it takes to go to the Moon and Mars. We embrace the responsibility entrusted to us to get the crew there and back home safely,” said William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX vice president of Construction and Flight Reliability, during a pre-launch briefing. “Spaceflight isn’t easy. Our mission right now is to safely launch Polaris, support their multi-day mission, and return them home to their families and friends.”
This was SpaceX’s second static launch this month, following a similar test on the first booster module, B1085, which will be used to launch two people on the Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station. On Saturday, NASA determined that it will send only two people to the orbiting outpost on this mission to preserve space for NASA astronauts. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams come back home.
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