SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn astronauts successfully performed a spacewalk, marking the first by a private company. After depressurizing SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, the billionaire funder of the mission, Jared Isaacman, exited the spacecraft on Thursday morning.
With his body and head completely attached to the outside of the capsule, Isaacman conducted tests on SpaceX’s new spacesuits, designed for increased mobility. “Back home, we all have a lot of work to do,” Isaacman said on the spacewalk. “But from here, it sure looks like a perfect world.”
After Isaacman returned to the capsule, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis exited the spacecraft to conduct other tests. Neither of them can float freely, and both rely on 12-foot-long umbilical cords to supply them with oxygen.
The two other privately trained Polaris Dawn astronauts, SpaceX engineer Anna Menon and retired US Air Force fighter pilot Scott Poteet, remained inside the capsule. They remained exposed to the vacuum of space, as the Dragon Capsule had no airlock.
