Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, made history this month when the Hawthorne aerospace company successfully completed the first spacewalk by a commercial crew.
Billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis went outside the Dragon capsule on the morning of Sept. 12 for about 10 minutes each.
According to Payload, an online space publication, “For (approximately) 10 minutes, Isaacman performed suit maneuverability tests outside the spacecraft while tethered by a 12-foot, oxygen-feeding umbilical cord.”
Mission specialist Gillis was next to leave the spacecraft. She performed the same external spacewalk tests as Isaacman, according to Payload.
Polaris Dawn, the first of three crewed missions purchased by Isaacman, launched on a SpaceX Dragon capsule on Sept. 10. Isaacman led the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission in 2021 and the following year announced the Polaris program. He is the founder and chief executive of Shift4 Payments Inc., an integrated payments and commerce technology company based in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, and an accomplished pilot, with roughly 6,000 hours of flight experience. He also owns jet-pilot training, aircraft maintenance and engineering and search and rescue company Draken International in Lakeland, Florida.
Along with Isaacman and Gillis, the other members of the Polaris Dawn mission were former Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and SpaceX engineer and mission specialist and medical officer Anna Menon.
In an interview with Space.com from September 2022, Isaacman said that choosing the crew was done in conjunction with SpaceX and it was built to meet the mission objectives.
“I think if you look at each crew member’s background, you can see why they are so well suited for this mission and the objectives we aim to accomplish,” he said in the interview.
According to Payload, there were four mission objectives: ride the Dragon to an orbit 869 miles above the planet – the highest humans have flown since the Apollo missions; fly down to 435 miles above the Earth to perform the spacewalk; tag into the Starlink network with a laser communications terminal, paving the way for improved communications on future missions; and perform 36 scientific experiments that will help researchers better understand the human experience in deep space.
Menon and Gillis became the first ever SpaceX employees to fly into space. They also were the first women to travel the farthest from Earth aboard the Dragon capsule.
“This is a stepping stone,” Menon, 38, a NASA veteran, told People magazine earlier this month as she and the other astronauts prepared for takeoff. “It’s helping to build technologies that will get humans closer to Mars and beyond.”
“We hope to inspire future generations,” Gillis, 30, added, in the article.
Asked in the Space.com interview which part of the mission she was most looking forward to, Gillis said that she was really trying to enjoy every part of the experience – from the training to splash down at the end.
“While on-orbit, I think I am most looking forward to living and working in the microgravity environment,” she added.
