Early Thursday morning, the Polaris Dawn crew opened their Dragon capsule to the vacuum of space, and two private astronauts walked right out.
The spacewalk—a risky mission that has historically been the purview of federal space agencies—was the first conducted by a commercial crew. Never shy of putting on a show, SpaceX live-streamed the event via extraordinary internal, external, and helmet cameras.
Sporting SpaceX suits tailored for EVA activity, the crew commenced final Dragon depressurization at 6:30am ET. 20 min later, the astronauts opened the hatch to cheers from a crowd that had gathered at SpaceX’s mission control in California.
Dragon does not have an airlock, so at that point the entire internal cabin was exposed to the vacuum of space—another historic first of four people in that environment simultaneously.
One giant float for mankind
Mission commander and billionaire Jared Isaacman was first to climb the newly installed Skywalker stairs and poke half his body outside the Dragon capsule.
- For ~10 minutes, Isaacman performed suit maneuverability tests outside the spacecraft while tethered by a 12-foot, oxygen-feeding umbilical cord.
Mission specialist and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis was next to leave the spacecraft. She performed the same external spacewalk tests as Isaacman.
- After completing her walk, Gillis returned back to the Dragon cabin and shut the hatch at 7:16am ET.
Kidd Poteet, the mission pilot, and Anna Menon, a mission specialist and SpaceX engineer, monitored the EVA inside the vacuum-exposed capsule.
After hatch closure, the crew repressurized the capsule—officially completing the EVA at 7:58am ET.
The first of many: The goal of the mission was to test suit mobility and design as SpaceX prepares for a future where humans can frequently move throughout Earth’s orbit, and beyond to the Moon and Mars.
