A crew of four civilians aboard the mission Polaris Dawn from the SpaceX opened the hatch of their capsule and made history as the first group of non-government astronauts to perform a spacewalk.
SpaceX streamed the event live on X (formerly Twitter) — also known as an extravehicular activity (EVA) — which began shortly after 7 a.m. ET.
The entire vehicle Crew Dragon SpaceX’s 2019 Polaris Dawn spacecraft, which propels 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 orbit. The mission has already set records, traveling farther into space than any human has done since NASA’s Apollo program ended more than 50 years ago.
The crew — which includes Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 Payments and a backer of Polaris Dawn; his close friend and former U.S. Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet; and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis — have been preparing for the spacewalk since the flight began at 6:23 a.m. ET on Tuesday (11).
The team underwent a process known as “pre-breathing,” a step designed to purge nitrogen from their blood to prevent the gas from forming bubbles — a potentially lethal condition — as they experience the vacuum of space.
Isaacman was the first to exit the capsule, shortly before 8 am (Brasília time).
He climbed onto a mobility aid — essentially a ladder that SpaceX has dubbed a “skywalker” — to venture into the endless void and take in the view.
“At home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here it feels like a perfect world,” Isaacman said.
Gillis and Isaacman were the only two crew members to actually exit the spacecraft, and they did so for a combined total of about 20 minutes.
Gillis left the capsule for about 10 minutes after Isaacman returned to his seat. She spent her time outside fidgeting in her spacesuit — as expected — to help test her mobility.
Developing spacesuits that fit and function more like regular clothing, rather than the bulky and highly restrictive white suits used on spacewalks of the past, is a key goal for SpaceX.
Although the crew reached a maximum altitude of more than 1,400 kilometers, the spacewalk took place while the vehicle was traveling between 190 and 700 kilometers above Earth. Watch the video below.
“There was a lot of time allocated to venting (or depressurizing the spacecraft) and repressurizing,” Isaacman told CNN over the two-hour spacewalk period. “And probably the biggest fear that we try to protect against is a failure of the vehicle to repressurize — because then all you have is your oxygen reserves to get home in about two hours, if necessary.”
“So I don’t expect we’ll have much time to enjoy the view,” Isaacman added.
New costumes
While Isaacman and Gillis were outside the capsule, however, they focused on demonstrating how the new EVA suits work in space.
EVA suits essentially function as actual spacecraft — only molded and shaped to fit the human body. Unlike the iconic bulky white spacesuits that government astronauts wear when they leave the International Space Station for a spacewalk, SpaceX’s EVA suits do not include a Primary Life Support System, or PLSS, according to Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut and SpaceX consultant.
The PLSS is essentially a backpack that allows ISS astronauts to float more freely through space to perform complex tasks, such as repairing and replacing equipment outside the space station. Instead, the Polaris Dawn crew will receive their life support through long hoses connected to the spacecraft.
Still, 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 mass-produced, rather than the expensive, custom-made items currently used by space agencies.
When discussing the vision for EVA suits in an interview with CNN Isaacman mentioned the bigger goal: to one day have entire settlements of people living 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. One day we’ll need tens of thousands of them.”
This content was originally published in SpaceX: first commercial spacewalk completed on Polaris Dawn mission on CNN Brasil.
Source: CNN Brasil
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
