On Thursday, SpaceX rocketed into the history books with the first commercial spacewalk. Billionaire Jared Isaacman led the SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission. He is the first non-professional astronaut to walk in space.
The four-person crew consists of Isaacman, former U.S. Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, and SpaceX mission specialists Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. They took off from the Kennady Space Centre in Florida on Tuesday and are expected to land back on Earth today. Isaacman funded the five-day flight along with two further Polaris missions.
Skywalkers
In orbit 738km above Earth, the crew traveled further into space than any humans since NASA’s Apollo program. It was here that Isaacman opened the top hatch and climbed up onto a set of rails known as the “Skywalker.” He and Gillis took turns to clamber up and peer out of the hatch that usually attaches to the International Space Station.
SpaceX and the Polaris Dawn crew have completed the first commercial spacewalk!
“SpaceX, back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.” — Mission Commander @rookisaacman during Dragon egress and seeing our planet from ~738 km pic.twitter.com/lRczSv5i4k
— Polaris (@PolarisProgram) September 12, 2024
Neither person fully left the spacecraft.
“We are not going to be floating around. We want to learn from history and always keep at least one point of contact,” Isaacman said before the flight. They each spent 10 minutes outside the capsule.
Though Poteet and Menon stayed in the capsule, all four crew members are considered “spacewalkers.” The SpaceX Crew Dragon does not have an airlock, meaning the entire capsule was depressurized and all four were exposed to the vacuum of space. Because of this, the whole crew had to go through the pre-breathe procedure that removes nitrogen from the blood to prevent decompression sickness.
New space suits
The crew wore EVA (extravehicular activity) suits during the spacewalk. Developing spacesuits that could be used in an off-world colonization attempt is a key goal of the Polaris Dawn project. Isaacman said it was “a huge honor” to test suits that may be the first version of those worn by people stepping onto Mars in the future.
Photo: Polaris Program
After pulling themselves onto the railings of the Crew Dragon, Isaacman and Gillis tested the mobility and capabilities of the spacesuits.
“[The suits] include all sorts of technology, including a heads-up display, a helmet camera [and] an entirely new architecture for joint mobility. There is thermal insulation throughout the suit, including a copper and indium tin oxide visor that provides both thermal protection and solar protection,” Menon told a press conference before the flight.
Two years of training
The crew trained together for two years to prepare. Though their carefully planned exit from a hatch onto railings may not seem as daring as previous spacewalks, entering the vacuum of space is an incredibly dangerous undertaking. For a non-professional astronaut is an incredible feat and shows just how far commercial spaceflight has come.
Iaacman has a keen interest in aviation. He learned to fly in 2004 and just five years later he set the world speed record for flying around the globe. He owns the largest fleet of private military aircraft in the world.
“I believe you only get one crack at life. To the extent you have the means to do so, you have this obligation to live life to the fullest. You never know when it will be your last day,” he said in a documentary about his space mission.
