WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Askume) – Two astronauts performed the world’s first solo spacewalk aboard a SpaceX capsule in Earth orbit on Thursday, attached to a Crew Dragon spacecraft in the vacuum while two other astronauts observed from hundreds of miles above Earth.
41-year-old billionaire Jared Isaacman was the first to take off at 6:52 a.m. ET (1052 GMT), followed by SpaceX engineer Sarah S. Sarah Gillis became the first two non-government individuals to travel into space. All of their adventures are broadcast live on the company’s website.
The mission successfully tested cutting-edge equipment, including thin spacesuits and a process for fully depressurizing the Crew Dragon capsule, technology that could be used in future private space missions.
This is one of the most dangerous trips yet for Elon Musk’s space company, as it is the only private company capable of regularly sending humans into Earth orbit and back.
“We all have a lot to do at home, but from above the Earth looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman said after exiting the spacecraft. In front of them was a half-lit Earth 700 kilometers (434.9 miles) below.
Before the spacewalk begins, the capsule is completely depressurized and the crew relies on their thin SpaceX-developed spacesuits for oxygen, which is provided via an umbilical connection to the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
The spacewalk was originally scheduled to last only 30 minutes, but the preparation and safe completion process lasted 1 hour and 46 minutes. It is a risky test of new space suit designs, capsule procedures and more, aimed at pushing the boundaries of what private companies can do in Earth orbit.
As the two astronauts returned to their seats in the cabin, a ground team at SpaceX’s corporate headquarters in Hawthorne, California, closed the capsule’s door and checked for leaks. The spacewalk officially ended around 8 a.m. EST.
Isaacman, Gillis, retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Scott Poteat, 50, and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon, 38, were aboard the Polaris Dawn mission, the Crew Dragon spacecraft orbiting Earth, after it launched Tuesday morning from Florida . Menon and Poteat remained aboard the spacecraft during the spacewalk.
It’s the latest and riskiest attempt by the Musk-led company to push the boundaries of commercial space flight.
Isaacman, a pilot and the billionaire founder of electronic payments company Shift4 (FOUR.N) , which is funding the Polaris mission, will launch Inspiration4 flights in 2021 in partnership with SpaceX.
He declined to say how much he paid, but based on the roughly $55 million per seat on other Crew Dragon flights, the mission could cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson praised the spacewalk. The agency provided financial support for the development of the Crew Dragon spacecraft that began nearly a decade ago.
“Today’s success is a quantum leap for the commercial space industry and reflects NASA’s long-term goal of building a vibrant U.S. space economy,” Nielsen wrote on X.
Farthest since Apollo
On Wednesday, the spacecraft orbited Earth at least six times in an elliptical orbit as shallow as 190 kilometers (118 miles) and as wide as 1,400 kilometers (870 miles), marking the first time humans have traveled in space since the last U.S. Apollo mission ran the maximum orbit in 1972.
The Polaris Activity (EVA) on Wednesday said the gummy-shaped spacecraft began raising its orbit to an altitude of 700 kilometers (435 miles) and adjusting cabin pressure for the spacewalk, formally known as an extra-vehicular rendezvous.
“The crew spent several hours demonstrating the suit’s pressurization strength, verifying positioning and access in microgravity, and preparing for extra-vehicular activities,” the statement said.
In the past, only government astronauts with years of training could walk in space.
Since its establishment in 2000, about 270 astronauts have visited the International Space Station, and Chinese astronauts have sent 16 astronauts to the Beijing Tiangong Space Station.
Poteet said the Polaris crew underwent 2-1/2 years of simulated SpaceX mission training and conducted “experiential learning” in challenging and uncomfortable environments.
Russia’s Soyuz MS-26 mission launched two cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the International Space Station on Wednesday, bringing a record 19 astronauts to orbit, bringing the total to 12 space travelers.
There are three Chinese astronauts on board the Tiangong space station.
In 1965, the Gemini capsule conducted the first American spacewalk, using a procedure similar to that of Polaris Dawn: the capsule was depressurized, the hatch opened, and the astronauts in spacesuits were brought out using ropes.
Since 2001, the Crew Dragon spacecraft has been the only U.S. spacecraft capable of reliably putting humans into orbit and returning them to Earth, flying more than a dozen astronaut missions primarily for NASA.
The agency began developing the capsule as part of a program to create a commercial, privately built American vehicle that could carry astronauts to the International Space Station. Capable of carrying it.
Boeing’s Starliner capsule was also developed under the program but is far behind.
Starliner visited the International Space Station in June. This month, a troubled test mission ended with the capsule returning empty, leaving astronauts on the station to await the return of the Crew Dragon spacecraft next year.
