Polaris Dawn astronauts complete 1st-ever private spacewalk: Rewatch the moment
The Polaris Dawn astronauts have exited the SpaceX Dragon capsule to expose themselves to the void of space while 435 miles above Earth.
Early Thursday, the crew began final preparations to unlatch the hatch of the spacecraft they rode to orbit on Tuesday to conduct the first-ever commercial spacewalk. SpaceX, which is operating the mission and designed the suits specially for the maneuver, provided live coverage on social media site X.
The entire operation, which began around 6 a.m., took about two hours.
The Polaris Dawn crew began preparing for the daring maneuver almost immediately after arriving in orbit for a five-day mission to test SpaceX technology needed for future crewed missions to the moon and Mars.
Polaris Dawn:SpaceX Dragon takes crew to highest orbit in 50 years
Billionaire Jared Isaacman leading mission
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman – the commander of the mission – and SpaceX employee Sarah Gillis both exited the SpaceX Dragon to spend about 12 minutes each to perform suit mobility checks.
While mission specialist Anna Menon and pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet did not exit the spacecraft, they were still exposed to the vacuum of space because the Dragon does not have an airlock. For that reason, the entire cabin was depressurized and all four astronauts were suited up in extravehicular activity (EVA) suits designed by SpaceX to receive oxygen through tethers.
The hatch was opened within 38 minutes of beginning the operation and Isaacman was the first to emerge from the capsule.
"Back at home we have a lot of work to do, but from here Earth sure looks like a perfect world," Isaacman said as the ground crew on the livestream burst into applause.
Gillis followed him shortly after, where she wiggled around in the dark expanse to test the spacesuit before returning to the cabin and closing the hatch.
Crew make 1st private spacewalk
Until now, spacewalks have only ever been the purview of government spacefarers such as NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts. What's more, the maneuvers most often take place in craft with airlocks.
Not only have spacewalks historically not been commercial endeavors, but those who have taken part have done so in spacesuits regulated by a government space agency.
This time it is all being done by SpaceX. The purpose of the operation was to test the suit's capabilities, which the rocket company developed for this flight.
What is Polaris Dawn?
Polaris Dawn is the first of three human spaceflights under the Polaris Program, all of which are intended to test SpaceX technologies needed to carry humans deep into the cosmos.
On the day of Tuesday's launch, the SpaceX Dragon capsule traveled further into space than any spacecraft has gone in more than 50 years, surpassing the height reached by NASA's Gemini 11 in the 1970s, SpaceX said.
Isaacman, founder of internet company Shift4 Payment, is the only member of the Polaris Dawn crew to have been to outer space before. Menon and Gillis are also now not only the the first SpaceX employees to travel to space, but have traveled higher than any other women in history.
Before and after the spacewalk, the crew is conducting nearly 40 scientific experiments – many of which aim to understand the human body's reaction to long spaceflights as NASA and other space agencies set their sights on destinations like Mars. They are scheduled to return to Earth Sunday.
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]