SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission made history on Thursday by performing the first commercial spacewalk. NASA hailed it as "a giant leap forward" for the space industry.
Fintech billionaire Jared Isaacman led the mission, which was launched on Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The four-member crew of the Dragon spacecraft adjusted to an orbit with a high of 700 kilometres. Pure oxygen started flowing into their suits on Thursday morning. This marked the official start of the extravehicular activity (EVA) at 1012 GMT, according to a report by AFP.
Sometime later, Isaacman opened the hatch and climbed by gripping the hand and footholds of a structure known as ‘Skywalker,’ from where he saw the breathtaking view of the Earth.
“SpaceX, back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman said.
This is another milestone for Elon Musk-founded SpaceX.
“Today's success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and NASA's long-term goal to build a vibrant US space economy,” NASA chief Bill Nelson posted on X.
Before opening the hatch, the crew had to go through a ‘prebreathe’ procedure in order to remove nitrogen from bloodstream to avoid decompression sickness.
Isaacman and crewmate Sarah Gillis, a SpaceX engineer, spent a few minutes each performing mobility tests on SpaceX's next-generation suits that boast heads-up displays, helmet cameras and enhanced joint mobility systems, before returning inside.
Extravehicular activity ended officially after an hour and 46 minutes, following cabin re-pressurisation.
As the Dragon doesn't have an airlock, the entire crew was exposed to space vacuum. Mission pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon remained strapped in throughout as they monitored vital support systems.
"The risk is greater than zero, that's for sure, and it's certainly higher than anything that has been accomplished on a commercial basis," former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe told AFP.
The spacewalk followed an audacious first phase of the mission, during which the Dragon spacecraft reached a peak altitude of 870 miles which is three times more than the International Space Station.
All four crew members went through more than two years of training including hundreds of hours on simulators, skydiving, scuba diving and summiting an Ecuadoran volcano.
Polaris Dawn is the first out of the three missions under the Polaris programme. The space programme is a collaboration between Isaacman and SpaceX.
The financial terms of the mission are not out yet. However, Isaacman, the 41-year-old founder and CEO of Shift4Payments, has reportedly funded this mission with $200 million, the report said.
The final Polaris mission aims to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX's Starship, a prototype of the next-generation rocket, key to Musk's ambitions of colonising Mars.
(With inputs from AFP)
