A SpaceX rocket will send four people into space this week on the private Polaris Dawn mission, and if you want to watch liftoff live, you'll need to know when and where to watch it. In this case, it helps to be an early bird.
The Polaris Dawn Mission, a commercial space mission backed by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, is slated to launch the first private space mission. Tuesday, August 27A Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule resiliency. Liftoff is scheduled 3:38 am EDT (0738 GMT) From Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Here's what time Polaris Dawn will fly, how to watch it live online, who's on board, and how long the mission will last.
What is SpaceX's Polaris Dawn launch time?
SpaceX is currently the target Tuesday at 3:38 a.m. EDT (0738 GMT). Polaris dawn to launch the mission, but will fly in a four-hour window. But that doesn't mean the launch could happen anytime between 3:38 am EDT and 7:38 am EDT (1138 GMT). Instead, SpaceX now says it has two additional times to launch during that window. Those times 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT) And 7:09 a.m. EDT (1109 GMT)The company was written by A Job overview.
Polaris Dawn will lift off from SpaceX's pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX has at least two chances to launch within a four-hour window, The company said.
SpaceX rolled the Dragon spacecraft and its Falcon 9 rocket onto the pad on Saturday (Aug. 24) and conducted a steady fire on the Falcon 9's first-stage engines a day later. Meanwhile, the Polaris Dawn crew held a dress rehearsal for the launch day on August 25.
Can I watch SpaceX's Polaris Dawn launch online?
Yes, you can watch SpaceX's Polaris Dawn launch live online. SpaceX will host a live webcast on its X channel (formerly Twitter), starting about 3.5 hours before liftoff.
As SpaceX plans to launch 3:38 a.m. EDTThe livestream should start shortly 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT). You can also watch the live stream at the top of this page Space.com's YouTube channelIt will simulcast the launch.
Who Will Fly SpaceX's Polaris Dawn Mission?
SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission will send four private astronauts into space on a commercial flight funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who has already flown once into orbit with SpaceX in 2021's Inspiration4 mission. See who joins him in the mission. For a more in-depth look at the astronauts, check out our Meet the Polaris Dawn crew story.
- Jared Isaacman: Isaacman serves as Polaris Dawn's financier and mission commander. The entrepreneur made his fortune as the founder and CEO of payment processing company Shift4Payments. After Inspiration 4, Isaacman purchased three more aircraft from SpaceX under its Polaris program. The Polaris Dawn was the first of those aircraft. He has flown more than 6,000 hours of high-performance aircraft.
- Scott « Kid » Poteet: Poteet is a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel and serves as the pilot of the Polaris Dawn mission. Polaris Dawn was his first trip into space. He has logged 3,200 hours of jet flying and spent 20 years in the Air Force. He previously served as director of business development at Dragon International (a company once owned by Isaacman), vice president of strategy at Shift 4, and director of operations at Inspiration 4.
- Sarah Gillis: Gillis is a mission specialist at Polaris Dawn and SpaceX's lead space operations engineer responsible for astronaut training. He was a task trainer for Isaacman's Inspiration4 aircraft. Gillis joined SpaceX in 2015 as an intern and studied aerospace engineering and dance at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
- Anna Menon: Menon is the Mission Specialist and Chief Medical Officer of Polaris Dawn Group. He is also the lead operations engineer for SpaceX's crew operations development and has served as flight controller for the company's Demo-2 and Crew-1 flights. Before joining SpaceX, Menon was a biomedical flight controller for the International Space Station, worked with Engineers Without Borders and was a private pilot. In addition to her Polaris Dawn duties, Menon also wrote a children's book.Kisses from space« With Kerry Vesak, she will read from space. Proceeds from the book will benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
That's how long SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission is
From liftoff to Falcon 9 booster landing, SpaceX's Polaris Dawn launch lasts about 8.5 minutes, but the actual flight lasts much longer.
Isaacman and his team plan to spend at least five days in orbit during their personal spacewalk. During that time, the crew will break the record for the highest space flight by female astronauts and also fly the longest human space flight since the Apollo era.
Isaacman and crew will attempt the world's first private spacewalk on Flight Day 3, test a new orbital Starlink communications link on Flight Day 4 and conduct nearly 40 experiments while in orbit. A key experiment is the testing and demonstration of SpaceX's new spacesuits for spacewalks.
| Time (hr:min:sec) | event | Header Cell – Column 2 |
|---|---|---|
| T-00:45:00 | SpaceX launch director 'Go' for fuel | Row 0 – Cell 2 |
| T-00:42:00 | Group access arm retracts | Row 1 – Cell 2 |
| T-00:39:00 | Dragon Launch Escape System Weapon | Row 2 – Cell 2 |
| T-00:35:00 | RP-1 propellant loading begins | Row 3 – cell 2 |
| T-00:35:00 | First stage liquid oxygen (LOX) loading begins | Row 4 – cell 2 |
| T-00:16:00 | 2nd stage LOX loading begins | Row 5 – cell 2 |
| T-00:07:00 | Falcon 9 engine chilldown begins | Row 6 – cell 2 |
| T-00:5:00 | Dragon in Inner Power | Row 7 – cell 2 |
| T-00:01:00 | Flight computer preview tests | Row 8 – cell 2 |
| T-00:01:00 | Fuel tanks at air pressure | Row 9 – cell 2 |
| T-00:00:45 | Launch Director gives 'GO' to launch | Row 10 – cell 2 |
| T-00:00:03 | Ignition sequence start | Row 11 – cell 2 |
| T-00:00:00 | Falcon 9 Liftoff! | Row 12 – cell 2 |
| T+00:00:58 | Maximum k | Row 13 – cell 2 |
| T+00:02:26 | 1st stage main machine cutting | Row 14 – cell 2 |
| T+00:02:29 | Stage separation | Row 15 – cell 2 |
| T+00:02:37 | 2nd stage engine start | Row 16 – cell 2 |
| T+00:02:43 | First stage boostback burning begins | Row 17 – cell 2 |
| T+00:03:30 | 1st stage boostback burn ends | Row 18 – cell 2 |
| T+00:06:16 | The first stage entry combustion begins | Row 19 – cell 2 |
| T+00:06:27 | 1st stage entry burn is over | Row 20 – cell 2 |
| T+00:07:21 | 1st degree landing burn | Row 21 – cell 2 |
| T+00:07:38 | 1st level landing | Row 22 – cell 2 |
| T+00:08:49 | 2nd stage is machine cutting | Row 23 – cell 2 |
| T+00:11:55 | Dragon Split | Row 24 – cell 2 |
| T+00:12:43 | Dragon Nosecon opens | Row 25 – cell 2 |
What if SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission can't launch on time?
Although SpaceX is aiming for a 3:38 a.m. EDT launch on Aug. 27 for the Polaris Dawn crew, the company could delay or scrub it due to technical or weather issues. Therefore, the company has a backup launch opportunity while the liftoff is planned.
If a problem prevents the launch of Polaris Dawn on August 27, SpaceX may try again August 28 at 3:38 a.m. EDT. Like the Aug. 27 attempt, SpaceX will have a four-hour window in which it will have two opportunities to launch the mission, with a chance to fly again during that window. 5:23 am EDT and 7:09 am EDT.
In fact, SpaceX has already delayed the launch by a day. It was originally scheduled to launch on Monday, August 26, but SpaceX delayed the flight by 24 hours to allow time for additional rocket tests.
You can watch SpaceX's Polaris Dawn launch live on Space.com on launch day, courtesy of SpaceX's X Stream, beginning at approximately 12 a.m. EDT (0400 GMT).
Editor's note: This story was updated with updated launch target times on August 26 at 9:30 a.m. ET during SpaceX's four-hour Polaris Dawn launch window.
