SpaceX On Tuesday, an attempt to launch a daring all-civilian crewed orbital mission aimed at the first private spacewalk was postponed once again. Polaris DawnThe spacecraft, organized by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, was scheduled to launch in four hours on Wednesday morning from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

But on Tuesday SpaceX In a message to X, he announced that he was postponing the launch plans “due to adverse weather forecasts in the Dragon tidal areas off the coast of Florida.” An earlier test on Tuesday was canceled due to a helium leak in the line connecting the tower to the rocket.

On top of the rocket Falcon 9 capsule SpaceX Dragon It will reach a maximum altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometers), higher than any crewed mission in the more than half-century since the Apollo era.

Mission Commander Isaacman will lead his four-member crew through the most important part of the mission: the first spacewalk by non-professional astronauts wearing SpaceX’s sleek, newly developed extravehicular space suit (EVA).

Rounding out the team are mission pilot Scott Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel; mission specialist Sarah Gillis, SpaceX’s lead space operations engineer; and mission specialist and paramedic Anna Menon, who is also SpaceX’s lead space operations engineer.

The four trained for more than two years to prepare for the landmark mission, spending hundreds of hours in simulators, as well as skydiving, centrifuge training, scuba diving and climbing an Ecuadorian volcano.

Polaris Dawn will be the first of three missions under the Polaris program, a collaboration between SpaceX and Isaacman, founder of technology company Shift4 Payments.

Isaacman declined to disclose his total investment in the project, but reports suggest he paid around $200 million for the September 2021 Inspiration4 mission, SpaceX’s first all-civilian orbital mission.

Polaris Dawn will reach its highest altitude on the first day and briefly enter the Van Allen Radiation Belt, a region filled with high-energy charged particles that could pose a long-term health threat to humans.

On day three, the crew will don state-of-the-art EVA suits equipped with screens, helmet-mounted cameras and advanced joint mobility systems and take turns outside their spacecraft in pairs.

Each will spend 15 to 20 minutes in space 435 miles above the Earth’s surface.

The mission list also includes testing a laser-based satellite link between the spacecraft and Starlink, SpaceX’s 6,000-plus powerful group of Internet satellites with the aim of increasing the speed of space communications, as well as conducting about 40 scientific experiments.

These include tests using contact lenses with built-in microelectronics to continuously monitor changes in eye pressure and shape. After six days in space, the mission will conclude with a landing off the coast of Florida.