Two private astronauts have completed the first-ever commercial spacewalk, marking the first time that civilian astronauts have stepped out into space. As part of the Polaris Dawn mission, launched on Tuesday, billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis spent around 30 minutes outside their SpaceX Dragon.
Isaacman exited the Dragon at around 6:52 a.m. ET, followed by Gillis, at an unusually high altitude of 435 miles above the Earth’s surface. While previous commercial spaceflights have been into a lower orbit or carried passengers to the International Space Station, Polaris Dawn will spend part of its five-day mission at altitudes of up to 870 miles.
At this altitude, the astronauts pass through parts of the Van Allen belt that protects Earth from radiation, marking the farthest distance from Earth ever traveled in a Crew Dragon and the farthest humans have traveled since the Apollo program. The spacewalk took place at a lower altitude, however, to ensure the pair of spacewalkers were safe from radiation.
The spacewalk, which was live-streamed by SpaceX, also offered stunning views of Earth as seen from the Crew Dragon capsule. “Back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here Earth sure looks like a perfect world,” said Isaacman as he exited the Dragon and stepped into space.
During the spacewalk, the entire Crew Dragon was depressurized, so the two private astronauts who remained inside the craft were also in spacesuits to provide them with required oxygen and pressure. Part of the purpose of the spacewalk was to test out a newly designed SpaceX spacesuit, which is slimmer than previous spacesuits used for spacewalks with improved mobility and temperature control.
In addition to the spacewalk, over the five-day mission the crew will be part of various research projects into human health in space, and sensors will be used to monitor how much radiation each person is exposed to — a significant concern for future plans to send astronauts to the moon long-term.
The spacewalk was hailed as a major step forward in private spaceflight, including by NASA officials. “Congratulations @PolarisProgram and @SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson wrote on X. “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.”
