SpaceX Makes History With The World’s 1st Private Spacewalk 458 Miles Above The Earth

SpaceX made history on Thursday, September 12, when the Polaris Dawn crew performed the first private spacewalk, orbiting Earth at an altitude of 458 miles. This marks a significant achievement in commercial space exploration, as the mission commander, Jared Isaacman, became the first private astronaut to exit the Dragon spacecraft for an extravehicular activity (EVA). Floating in the vacuum of space, Isaacman remarked, “Back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.”

Isaacman re-entered the capsule after a brief period, and mission specialist Sarah Gillis took her turn to exit for the spacewalk. The two astronauts conducted mobility tests to demonstrate the effectiveness of SpaceX’s new spacesuits, using the Skywalker mobility platform to safely navigate the Dragon’s exterior. Mission control monitored the entire event, which lasted approximately 20 minutes, although the full spacewalk preparation took about two hours.

The Polaris Program, which is financed by millionaire Jared Isaacman, includes this spacewalk. Pilot Kitt Poteet and mission expert Anna Menon are also part of the mission. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has not released the precise cost of this flight. Launched from Kennedy Space Center on September 10, this is the first of three scheduled human space missions as part of the Polaris Program.

The Dragon spacecraft, which lacks a traditional airlock, was depressurized entirely for the spacewalk, exposing the crew to space while relying solely on their EVA spacesuits. Following the spacewalk, the capsule was repressurized using a unique nitrogen and oxygen system, a process that took 50 minutes.

The mission, which includes 40 scientific experiments, orbits Earth in an elliptical path, reaching altitudes as high as 1,400 km—the furthest human distance from Earth since the Apollo missions.