Editor’s note: Follow CNN’s live updates as SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew undertakes first commercial spacewalk.

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A four-person civilian crew aboard SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission opened the hatch of their capsule and made history as the first group of non-governmental astronauts to conduct a spacewalk.

SpaceX is hosting a live webcast of the event, also known as extravehicular activity (EVA), which began at 6:12 a.m. ET.

The entire SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle that powers and protects the crew has been depressurized and exposed to the vacuum of space – a dangerous and historic milestone in the Polaris Dawn crew’s five-day journey through Earth’s orbit. The mission has already set records, venturing farther into space than any human since the end of NASA’s Apollo program more than 50 years ago.

The crew members – including Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments and Polaris Dawn backer, his close friend and former U.S. Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis – had been preparing for the spacewalk since liftoff at 5:23 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

The team slowly went through a process called a “pre-breathe,” a step designed to rid the blood of nitrogen to prevent the gas from forming bubbles while in the vacuum of space – a potentially fatal condition.

Isaacman was the first to exit the capsule shortly before 7 a.m. ET.

He climbed into the endless void on a walker – essentially a ladder that SpaceX has dubbed the “Skywalker” – and enjoyed the view.

“We all have a lot to do at home, but from here it looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman said.

Gillis and Isaacman were the only two crew members to actually leave the spacecraft, and they did so for a total of about 20 minutes.

Gillis left the capsule for about 10 minutes after Isaacman returned to his seat. She spent her time outside, as expected, fidgeting in her spacesuit to test its mobility.

A key goal of SpaceX is to develop spacesuits that fit and function more like regular clothing rather than the highly restrictive and baggy white suits used in spacewalks in the past.

But the cabin windows still provided incredible views for the entire crew, allowing for breathtaking glimpses of the Earth passing below. The Polaris Dawn crew can experience a sunrise and a sunset approximately every 106 minutes.

“It’s honestly one of my favorite views,” Mennon said. “The sun rises over the horizon and the whole world lights up – or the whole world goes to sleep. And you can watch that for hours, and it’s so beautiful. Our Earth is so beautiful.”

Although the crew had previously reached a ceiling altitude of over 1,400 kilometers (870 miles), the spacewalk took place while their vehicle was at an altitude between 190 and 700 kilometers (118 to 435 miles) above Earth.

In total, the Crew Dragon capsule spent about two hours in space with the hatch open.

“There’s a lot of time built in for venting (or depressurizing the spacecraft) and repressurizing,” Isaacman told CNN of the two-hour spacewalk window. “And probably the biggest fear we wanted to protect against is failure to repressurize the vehicle – because then you only have your oxygen reserves to get you home in about two hours if you need to.”

“So I don’t expect we’ll have much time for sightseeing,” Isaacman added.

Brand new suits

While Isaacman and Gillis are outside the capsule, they focus on demonstrating how their brand new EVA suits work in space.

EVA suits basically function like spaceships—they’re just shaped and designed to fit the human body. Unlike the iconic, puffy white spacesuits that government astronauts wear when they leave the International Space Station for a spacewalk, SpaceX’s EVA suits don’t have a primary life support system (PLSS), according to Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut who works as a SpaceX consultant.

A PLSS is essentially a backpack that allows ISS astronauts to float more freely through space and perform complex tasks like repairing and replacing hardware outside the space station. The Polaris Dawn crew, on the other hand, receives their life support via long tubes attached to their spacecraft.

Nevertheless, SpaceX’s EVA suits are an impressive feat of engineering. The company designed and developed the spacesuits in just two and a half years – specifically for this mission.

The goal was to develop spacesuits that could one day be produced on a large scale, rather than the expensive custom-made ones currently used by space agencies.

When Isaacman spoke about the vision of the EVA suits in an interview with CNN, he referred to the overarching goal: that one day entire settlements of people will live in space.

Isaacman said he discussed this vision with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and they agreed: “We need spacesuits. And you know, they shouldn’t cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Eventually we’ll need tens of thousands of them.”

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