Two worth-watching NASA, SpaceX missions on Sept 6: Starliner’s return, Polaris Dawn for first-ever private spacewalk

September 6 is all set to be a jam-packed day for space endeavours. If all goes well, the world will closely watch two much-awaited space missions this Friday – first is the return of Boeing's Starliner, and the second is the launch of SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission.

Here's all you need to know about the two missions:

Starliner to return on September 6

Boeing's Starliner is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) and return without its crew members – NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore – on Friday, September 6.

NASA said in a statement on August 30 that Starliner is scheduled to "autonomously undock" from the space station at around 6:04 pm EDT Friday (or IST 3:30 am Saturday) "to begin the journey home, weather conditions permitting".

After undocking, Starliner is expected to take around six hours to reach the landing zone at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Starliner is expected to land on Earth around 9:30 am (IST) on Saturday, September 7.

Meanwhile, Starliner crew Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams will remain aboard the space station as part of the Expedition 71/72 crew on NASA's Crew-9 mission, aboard SpaceX Dragon craft, in February 2025.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5 for its first crewed flight. During their flight, helium leaks were detected in the spacecraft. Besides, issues were also found with spacecraft reaction control thrusters.

SpaceX Polaris Dawn launch

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission is set to feature the first-ever spacewalk by private citizens. 

The Federal Aviation Administration's document indicates that the Dawn mission is scheduled to launch around 1:03 pm IST on Friday, September 6, from the Kennedy Space Center. An operations plan released by the agency also shows backup opportunities on Saturday and Sunday.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Polaris Dawn mission from Florida. Dragon and the Polaris Dawn crew will spend up to five days in orbit. SpaceX owner Elon Musk hailed this mission as a "historic" one.

The four-member crew of SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission is composed entirely of non-professional astronauts. This will be the first human spaceflight for Mission Pilot Kidd Poteet, Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis, and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon. SpaceX said that this will also be the first time two SpaceX employees will be part of a human spaceflight crew.

During these five days they will work towards the following objectives:

1. First Commercial Spacewalk: The crew will attempt the first-ever commercial extravehicular activity (EVA) at approximately 700 kilometers above the Earth. It will set altitude record for woman astronauts.
2. Fly higher in Earth’s orbit than anyone since the Apollo program
3. Test laser-based Starlink communications
4. Conduct 36 research studies and experiments from 31 partner institutions designed to advance both human health on Earth and during long-duration spaceflight
5. Participate in the first-ever extravehicular activity (EVA) by commercial astronauts wearing SpaceX-developed EVA suits

The launch was delayed twice in August, initially due to a technical issue with the launch tower and subsequently because of weather constraints affecting the splashdown phase.

"Due to unfavorable weather forecasted in Dragon’s splashdown areas off the coast of Florida, SpaceX is standing down from Falcon 9's launch opportunities of Polaris Dawn on Wednesday, August 28 and Thursday, August 29. SpaceX teams will continue to monitor weather for favorable launch and return conditions," Polaris Dawn said on its website.

The matters was further complicated due to "a separate SpaceX Falcon 9 mission losing its first stage booster, which typically performs a precision upright landing on a drone ship," Physics.org said.