SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission made history Thursday by conducting the first commercial spacewalk. NASA called it “a major step forward” for the space industry.
Financial technology Billionaire Jared Isaacman led the mission, which launched Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Dragon’s four-member crew spacecraft The astronauts settled into an orbit with a maximum altitude of 700 kilometres. Pure oxygen began flowing into their suits on Thursday morning. This marked the official start of the extravehicular activity (EVA) at 10.12 GMT, according to an AFP report.
Some time later, Isaacman opened the hatch and climbed up by hand and foot onto a structure known as the ‘Skywalker’, from where he saw the impressive view of Earth.
“SpaceX, we all have a lot of work to do at home, but from here, Earth looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman said.
This is another milestone for SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk.
“Today’s success represents a major step forward for the commercial space industry and NASA’s long-term goal of building a vibrant American space economy.” POT Chief Bill Nelson posted on X.
Before opening the hatch, the crew had to go through a “pre-breathing” procedure to remove nitrogen from the bloodstream and prevent decompression sickness.
Isaacman and crewmate Sarah Gillis, a SpaceX engineer, each spent a few minutes performing mobility tests in SpaceX’s next-generation suits that feature heads-up displays, helmet-mounted cameras and enhanced joint mobility systems, before heading back inside.
The extravehicular activity officially ended after one hour and 46 minutes, following the repressurization of the cabin.
Because Dragon has no airlock, the entire crew was exposed to the vacuum of space. Mission pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon remained tethered throughout the mission while monitoring life support systems.
“The risk is greater than zero, that’s for sure, and it’s certainly greater than anything that’s been achieved commercially,” former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe told AFP.
The spacewalk followed a bold first phase of the mission, during which the Dragon spacecraft reached a maximum altitude of 870 miles — three times higher than the International Space Station.
The four crew members underwent more than two years of training, including hundreds of hours in simulators, skydiving, scuba diving and summiting an Ecuadorian volcano.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions in the Polaris program, a collaborative space program between Isaacman and SpaceX.
The financial terms of the mission have not yet been disclosed. However, Isaacman, the 41-year-old founder and CEO of Shift4Payments, has reportedly funded the mission with $200 million, according to the report.
The latest Polaris mission is intended to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship, a prototype of the next-generation rocket key to Musk’s ambitions to colonize Mars.
(With contributions from AFP)
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Published: 12 Sep 2024, 22:33 IST
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