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Four private citizens orbiting Earth in a SpaceX capsule made history on Thursday when they completed the world’s first all-civilian spacewalk.
Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon make up the crew of the Polaris Dawn mission, which launched on Tuesday for a five-day flight into space.
Their spacewalk began several hours late at 6:12 a.m. ET and ended at 7:58 a.m. ET.
The completion of the spacewalk was a major milestone for the Polaris Dawn flight. Previously, only astronauts from government space agencies had conducted spacewalks to build or upgrade orbiting space stations, repair satellites, and conduct scientific experiments.
During Thursday’s excursion, Isaacman and Gillis exited the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a tether and spent about 10 minutes each in the vacuum of space. Although they were the only ones to exit the spacecraft, all four crew members wore and tested newly developed spacesuits during the excursion. That’s because the Crew Dragon doesn’t have a pressure lock, so the entire capsule was depressurized and exposed to vacuum conditions.
Overall, the Polaris Dawn mission is designed to test procedures and technologies that could be used in future long-duration space missions. During their journey, the crew members flew into the highest orbit that humans have reached since the last Apollo moon mission in 1972: 870 miles above the Earth’s surface.
The flight was funded by Isaacman with an undisclosed amount.
