Jared Isaacman looks out of the Dragon Capsule’s hatch
SpaceX
SpaceX made history today as its private astronauts conducted the first ever civilian spacewalk as part of its Polaris Dawn mission.
Two astronauts partially exited a SpaceX Crew Dragon craft, one at a time, as it orbited Earth at a speed of more than 25,000 kilometres per hour and an altitude of around 740 kilometres.
The crew of four began venting air from the cabin at 1031 GMT and finally opened the hatch manually at around 1050 GMT. All wore SpaceX’s new spacesuit model, which has been thoroughly tested on Earth but never in orbit.
Jared Isaacman, mission commander for the flight and the head of SpaceX’s Polaris programme and its billionaire co-funder, was the first to exit the spacecraft and look down on Earth. “From here it sure looks like a perfect world,” said Isaacman as he raised his head and torso from the capsule.
Isaacman then carried out a range of checks on the mobility and safety of his spacesuit before returning to his seat inside the craft after several minutes. Following this, the Crew Dragon fired its thrusters to sustain an optimal orbit, and then SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis made her spacewalk.
Neither Icaacman nor Gillis fully left the craft, making the event technically a stand-up extravehicular activity (SEVA) than a full EVA. Previous SpaceX promotional material for the mission had shown an astronaut fully outside the Crew Dragon capsule.
Every previous spacewalk ever conducted until today has been performed by government-trained astronauts, while the crew of Polaris Dawn are all private civilians. Along with Isaacman and Gillis, the rest of the crew consisted of retired US Air Force test pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon.
Isaacman was also part of a previous groundbreaking SpaceX flight in 2021 – aboard the very same Crew Dragon capsule used in the latest mission – which was the first orbital spaceflight with only civilians aboard.
SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission was one of the riskiest spacewalks ever attempted, harking back to the early space programme of the 1960s and 1970s because the Crew Dragon capsule lacks an airlock.
With the EVA complete, the rest of the Polaris Dawn mission will see the crew spend up to two more days in orbit before returning to Earth.
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