On Thursday, Jared Isaacman, a billionaire tech entrepreneur, marked a historic milestone by conducting the first private spacewalk in partnership with SpaceX. This groundbreaking event took place hundreds of miles above Earth, aboard a SpaceX capsule.
Isaacman, along with his crew, waited until their spacecraft was fully depressurized before opening the hatch. As the first individual to step outside, Isaacman aimed to join an elite group of spacewalkers who have traditionally been astronauts representing national space agencies.
The team, dressed in SpaceX’s newly designed spacewalking suits, embarked on their mission from Florida on Tuesday. Their journey has taken them farther from Earth than any crew since NASA’s Apollo missions, with their orbit adjusted to 458 miles (737 kilometers) above the planet for the spacewalk.
Commander @rookisaacman conducting suit mobility tests while Dragon flies between Australia and Antarctica pic.twitter.com/yj3vFOTNzQ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 12, 2024
The primary focus of this five-day mission, financed by Isaacman and SpaceX, was the spacewalk itself, a significant step towards future interplanetary exploration. This inaugural spacewalking test, expected to last around two hours, involved more stretching than walking. Isaacman’s task was to test the suit’s durability while remaining tethered to the spacecraft. The hatch featured a walker-like structure to aid in stability.
Following Isaacman’s initial 15 minutes outside, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis took over to perform similar tests. Both astronauts were equipped with 12-foot (3.6-meter) tethers but did not intend to fully utilize them as seen with spacewalks conducted at the International Space Station.
The mission underscores a growing trend of wealthy individuals investing in private spaceflights, seeking the rare experience of spacewalking—a feat known for its inherent risks and profound awe. Scott Kidd Poteet, a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot, and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon remained inside the capsule to monitor the operation, which required meticulous planning and intensive training.
Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments, has not disclosed the cost of his spaceflight, part of a broader initiative named Polaris, with this mission dubbed Polaris Dawn. The mission follows SpaceX’s 2021 private flight, which included contest winners and a cancer survivor.
As of Thursday, only 263 individuals from 12 countries had performed spacewalks, with the first ever conducted by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov in 1965, followed by NASA’s Ed White later that year.
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