Power Failed at SpaceX Ground Control During Space Tourist Mission

Teams lost communications for at least an hour.

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In September, SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission was already well underway way — when the power suddenly went out in one of the company's facilities in California.

As Reuters reports, ground control lost communications with the mission's crew, which was being led by billionaire Jared Isaacman (who, it's worth noting, recently was named NASA administrator by president-elect Donald Trump.)

During the mission, Isaacman became the first private citizen to perform a spacewalk, venturing outside of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft.

TK says the hour-long outage never put the four astronauts at risk. Throughout, they were able to communicate with the ground via SpaceX's Starlink satellite network.

Nonetheless, it sounds like a scary predicament for everybody involved.

"Not having command and control is a big deal," a source familiar with the problem told Reuters. "The whole point of having mission operators on the ground is to have the ability to quickly respond if something happens."

Space Blackout

The fact that we haven't heard of the outage until now highlights how private space companies can operate outside the scrutiny to which space organizations like NASA are subjected. Case in point, a moratorium passed by Congress in 2004 no longer requires private operators to disclose mishaps in orbit, as Reuters points out.

Now that Isaacman has been named administrator, as well as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's close relationship with Trump, these rules could soon further loosen.

It may be the first time the public has heard of the outage, but SpaceX did notify NASA, according to Reuters.

The outage was caused by a power surge, which left SpaceX unable to transfer mission control to a backup facility in Florida. According to Reuters' sources, the astronauts would've had to fly the spacecraft themselves if the issue hadn't been resolved in time.

The outage reportedly occurred before Isaacman ventured outside of the capsule.

Whether we'll hear about future mishaps like this one remains unclear. Musk has become a big proponent of deregulation, and Trump has already made it clear that he's willing to dump environmental rules Musk's businesses have had to abide by.

Isaacman also happens to be invested in SpaceX, a glaring conflict of interest that will likely be of interest to Congress when it votes on whether to approve Trump's pick for NASA administrator next month. A rejection of a cabinet pick, however, has remained extremely rare.

More on the mission: Space Tourist Alarmed When Vision Starts to Deteriorate