One Small Step
SpaceX’s all-civilian Polaris Dawn mission has pulled off an incredible feat: the first-ever commercial spacewalk.
After fully depressurizing their entire spacecraft, billionaire and mission commander Jared Isaacman and crewmate Sarah Gillis carefully clambered outside their Crew Dragon capsule early Thursday morning to have a once-in-a-lifetime peek at the Earth below.
Footage shows Isaacman standing up and stretching his arms while holding onto the spacecraft’s “Skywalker” platform, a pool ladder-like structure to ensure he and Gillis could keep in constant contact with the capsule.
The stunt was performed at an altitude of 458 miles, almost twice the height of the International Space Station’s usual orbit.
“SpaceX, back at home we have a lot of work to do, but from here it looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman told mission control while getting an unparalleled view of Australia.
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1834183614898241617
Giant Private Leap
Another video of the stunt shows a first-person perspective of Isaacman climbing out as SpaceX employees cheered him on at the company’s headquarters. In total, Isaacman and Gillis spent roughly eight minutes outside the capsule.
Prior to venturing outside, the crew began slowly lowering the pressure inside the spacecraft to become accustomed to the thin air. Hours into their journey, the cabin pressure was lowered to 8.6 psi, which is just above the conditions at the base camp of Mount Everest. They also began to breathe pure oxygen through the connections of their spacesuits.
By the time Isaacman and Gillis ventured outside, the pressure inside their suits was a mere 5 psi, just below the summit of Mount Everest.
But even with SpaceX’s newfangled extravehicular activities (EVA) suit, Isaacman and Gillis were still fully connected to their Dragon spacecraft via an umbilical, providing them with a steady supply of oxygen and thermal controls.
Isaacman and Gillis tested several mobility features of their new spacesuits, including hand and body movements, foot restraints, and the ability to hold tools during their short stints outside the spacecraft.
The mission isn’t just historic as the first commercial spacewalk. Just hours into their mission, the Polaris Dawn crew reached an apogee of 869 miles — roughly three times the altitude of the space station — marking the farthest from Earth that any human has ventured since NASA’s Apollo missions half a century ago.
The spacewalk is yet another major achievement for the Elon Musk-led SpaceX, setting the stage for similar missions to come.
And NASA is absolutely thrilled as well.
“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,” said NASA administrator Bill Nelson in a statement.
More on the mission: SpaceX Astronauts Now Farther From Earth Than Any Other Human Since Apollo Moon Missions
