Jared Isaacman: his first historic spacewalk, the video

Jared Isaacman became the first non-professional astronaut to perform a first private spacewalk on Thursday, September 12, 2024, as part of the commercial Polaris Dawn mission.

This is a first for a non-professional astronaut: until now, only professional astronauts who had undergone years of training had performed spacewalks. This Thursday, September 12 at around 10:52 GMT, an American billionaire performed the first private spacewalk in history, extracting himself from a spaceship as part of the Polaris Dawn mission, an entirely private mission that he himself financed.

Jared Isaacman, 41, was able to contemplate the Earth in a spacesuit, above Australia, for a dozen minutes, while the ship, a Crew Dragon from Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, plunged into the night: “Back home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, the Earth looks like a perfect world,” he said after his exit.

A new milestone has been reached. The NASA administrator congratulated the Polaris Dawn project and SpaceX on his X account, explaining that “today’s success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and NASA’s long-term goal of building a vibrant American space economy.” Space, once the exclusive domain of government agencies, is now opening up to private companies and non-astronauts, at least those who can finance an expensive spacewalk! This American entrepreneur made his fortune with a multi-billion dollar financial technology company. An aviation enthusiast, he also founded Draken International, providing air combat training services for the US military before financing the first orbital “tourist” mission in 2021.

Polaris Dawn was originally scheduled for July 2024, but the mission was postponed to September by SpaceX to prioritize the launch of Crew-9 to the ISS, the International Space Station. The Polaris Dawn mission thus reached the highest Earth orbit since the Apollo missions and became the first commercial spacewalk in history. This two-hour spacewalk was carried out by Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, a SpaceX engineer. At an altitude of 738 kilometers, they used next-generation spacesuits developed by SpaceX. For safety reasons, they were attached to the capsule by 3.6-meter cables.

The crew, consisting of Isaacman, Sarah Gillis, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Scott Poteet, and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon, will conduct a variety of scientific experiments. The research aims to improve our understanding of human health in space and develop technologies for extended space travel. By reaching exceptional altitudes, the crew will collect valuable data on radiation and the effects of the space environment on the human body, crucial for planning future lunar and Mars missions. Despite its commercial nature, Polaris Dawn is not just a spacewalk for billionaires. It represents a crucial step in developing technologies that will open space to a wider audience.