The launch of the private Polaris Dawn mission, originally slated for 3:38 a.m. on Saturday, is now listed as "TBD" by NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Commanded by entrepreneur and pilot Jared Isaacman, the mission was set to include the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA), debut SpaceX's new spacesuits, and aim for "the highest altitude of any human spaceflight mission since the Apollo program." But the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has grounded the flight, along with all other launches involving SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.
The decision came after SpaceX reported that the first-stage booster of another Falcon 9 "tipped over following touchdown on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship," after successfully deploying 21 Starlink satellites on August 28. This was SpaceX's 377th launch and 311th reflight, but it can't claim to be its 342nd landing. To date, SpaceX has safely transported "50 crewmembers to and from Earth's orbit" over the course of 13 manned missions. At the time of writing, SpaceX's official X account had not issued any additional comment on the incident or investigation.
