Space travel "Polaris Dawn" spacewalk postponed

The high-risk spacewalk during the private "Polaris Dawn" mission has been postponed by more than three hours shortly before launch. The aerospace company SpaceX did not initially give a reason.

The new planned launch time is around 12:00 noon CEST, as stated in the live broadcast of the spacewalk.

The spacewalk phase is the riskiest period of the entire mission, as former astronaut Ulrich Walter explained. In contrast to missions to the ISS space station, the amateur astronauts Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis do not float freely in space during their 20-minute excursion, but are attached to a type of ladder via foot straps for the entire time.

Billionaire entrepreneur Isaacman leads the mission, which lasts up to five days, in coordination with SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who remains on the ground.