SPACEX POLARIS DAWN ASTRONAUTS CELEBRATES FIRST PRIVATE SPACE WALK
It appears that commercial space flight is in its future. On Thursday, September 12, the first-ever private spacewalk happened early in the morning. American billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, two of SpaceX's private Polaris Dawn astronauts, took turns emerging from their Dragon capsule's hatch and standing for roughly ten minutes.
The two have accomplished one of the riskiest manoeuvres in space, making them the first non-professional crew to do so. Thus far, spacewalks have only been carried out by astronauts affiliated with government-funded space agencies.
Exiting the white Dragon capsule to float 435 miles above Earth below, Isaacman remarked, "Back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here Earth sure looks like a perfect world." He held onto the hand and footholds of a structure called "Skywalker" to maintain his position.
The four crew members—Isaacman, Gillis, Scott "Kidd" Poteet, and Anna Menon—underwent a "pre-breathe" procedure to prevent decompression sickness because the hatch on the craft lacks an airlock or doorway between the vacuum outside and the rest of the spacecraft. This is accomplished by adding oxygen to the blood in place of nitrogen. Then, to match the vacuum of space, the cabin pressure gradually decreased.
Senator Bill Nelson and the NASA Administrator celebrated this accomplishment. "@PolarisProgram and @SpaceX, congratulations on the first-ever commercial spacewalk in history!" he wrote. "NASA's long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy" and the commercial space industry have both benefited greatly from today's success.