Breathtaking ‘helmet cam’ footage caught the moment billionaire Jared Isaacman made history with the first-ever privately funded spacewalk
SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at around 5.30am local time on Tuesday (September 10).
The all-civilian crew includes billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman alongside two SpaceX employees and retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Scott Poteet.
The crew are kitted out in SpaceX’s new spacesuits – known as EVA or extra-vehicular activity – suits.
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The Polaris Dawn spacewalk was a world-first
The new suits contain a ‘state-of-the-art helmet heads-up display and camera’ and it was this camera that managed to capture the history-making moment Isaacman took part in the first-ever privately funded spacewalk.
Incredible footage, that was beamed back down to Earth, shows the billionaire, who charted the Polaris Dawn mission, exiting the space capsule at 11.52am BST on Thursday (September 12).
The 41-year-old stood on a ladder looking down towards the Earth surface and admiring a view only a handful of people have ever seen.
“Back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here Earth sure looks like a perfect world,” he said.
Before this mission, only well-funded government agencies, such as NASA, had been able to perform spacewalks.
NASA boss Bill Nelson said the successful commercial spacewalk was a ‘a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and NASA’s long-term goal to build a vibrant US space economy.’
The mission will also test out the new SpaceX EVA suits
Isaacman was followed on the spacewalk by SpaceX senior engineer Sarah Gillis, who is using the mission to test and assess how the new, much less bulky, suits work in space.
The ground-breaking new suits were unveiled by SpaceX earlier this year, and the Polaris Dawn mission is a chance for the team to see how they work in action.
“The EVA suit provides greater mobility, external, a state-of-the-art helmet heads-up display and camera, new thermal management textiles, and materials borrowed from Falcon’s interstage and Dragon’s trunk,” according to details shared about the Polaris Dawn mission.
SpaceX has said the tests carried out by the four astronauts will be vital for future missions that will carry humans to the Moon and Mars.
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