Billionaire on SpaceX mission completes first private spacewalk

“Earth sure looks like a perfect world,” tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman said after emerging from the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

SpaceX has broken another frontier by sending a four-member crew on a commercial Polaris Dawn flight to conduct the first-ever private, all-civilian spacewalk.

The main goal of the mission was to test the company’s new space suit. As a mission commander, Isaacman was the first of the two crew members who stepped out of the spacecraft.

He carried out a series of mobility tests to assess overall body control, vertical movement with “Skywalker” – a specialized hatch that replaced Dragon’s typical docking port – and foot restraint.

Isaacman, who bankrolled the mission, was heard saying during the live feed of the spacewalk: “SpaceX, back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.”

Commander @rookisaacman has egressed Dragon and is going through the first of three suit mobility tests that will test overall hand body control, vertical movement with Skywalker, and foot restraint pic.twitter.com/XATJQhLuIZ

undefined SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 12, 2024

Isaacman spent just over 10 minutes out in the vacuum of space and was replaced by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis who performed the same mobility tests before returning to the capsule and closing the hatch.

Two other members of the crew, mission pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX medical officer Anna Menon, stayed in their seats. All four wore spacesuits, however, as the entire spacecraft was exposed to vacuum conditions.

The spacewalk was announced complete by mission controllers at SpaceX California headquarters after one hour and 46 minutes.

Aside from testing the new space suit, the mission will also provide researchers with insights into astronaut health and spacecraft conditions in different space radiation environments, which could be useful in planning future expeditions to the Moon and Mars.

During the expedition, the spacecraft reached an altitude of 870 miles above the Earth’s surface, which is the highest orbital altitude that humans have reached since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

The International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth at an altitude more than three times lower, between 200 and 250 miles, according to NASA.

The five-day mission will end with the Crew Dragon capsule splashing down off the coast of Florida.

“Strive to greater heights”

The Crew Dragon spacecraft was launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday (September 10th). It is the first of the three missions planned as part of the Polaris program.

Isaacman, the founder and chief executive of payments company Shift4, is the organizer of the program. The second Polaris mission is set to build on the first one and “expand the boundaries” of future human spaceflights, in-space communications, and scientific research.

The third is planned to be the first human spaceflight on Starship, the world’s first fully reusable heavy-lift transportation system currently under development by SpaceX.

SpaceX owner, another billionaire Elon Musk, extended his congratulations to Isaacman and the rest of the team for a successful spacewalk. In a post on X, which he also owns, he shared a poem, reading “strive to greater heights, for a future brighter than the past.”

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson also congratulated the Polaris Program and SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history.

“Today’s success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and NASA’s long-term goal to build a vibrant US space economy,” Nelson said.

Congratulations @PolarisProgram and @SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history!

Today’s success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and @NASA's long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy. https://t.co/9cBwpeWUAT

undefined Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) September 12, 2024

SpaceX is NASA’s second-largest contractor, trailing only the California Institute of Technology, according to last year’s data. Critics expressed concern that the space agency is becoming too reliant on a “mercurial” billionaire for space flight.

In June, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa canceled his own mission trip around the Moon on Starship due to uncertainty surrounding the development of the SpaceX mega-rocket. Maezawa said the journey, which was originally planned for 2023, had become “unfeasible.”

Maezawa bought seats for eight traveling companions, including a K-pop star and an American DJ. The flyby would have been the billionaire’s second journey to space following his 12-day trip to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2021.