Space X Completes First Private Spacewalk
The spacewalk was part of the Polaris Dawn mission
The first spacewalk by non-professional astronauts ended on September 12.
“Earth does seem like a perfect world,” commented Jared Isaacman as he gazed into space as part of a Space X mission called Polaris Dawn, the purpose of which was, among other things, to test spacesuits supplied to astronauts who had not yet been in outer space.
Isaacman is an American billionaire, founder of Draken International, a company that provides aviation services to US defense, and CEO of Shift4, a payment processing company. After him, it was the turn of Space X employee Sarah Gillis.
The other two passengers of the Crew Dragon spacecraft were also in spacesuits because the ship does not have an airlock, so the entire crew was in open space when the hatch opened. Cabin pressure was gradually reduced to vacuum so that the hatch could be opened and then returned to normal once it closed.
The action took place on a shuttle 700 kilometers above the Earth – 300 kilometers higher than the International Space Station – during a flight between Australia and Antarctica.
Scientific implications of the mission include tests of Starlink’s laser communications, as well as data collected during the Dragon crew’s crossing of the Van Allen belts. The commercial goal is also important, if not primary, given that a potential market for “spacewalks” for billionaires could be created after the success of this first mission.
