Mr. Isaacman exits the spacecraft for a spacewalk.
The Washington Post reported on September 12 that American billionaire Jared Isaacman had just completed the first spacewalk by a private astronaut, broadcast live outside SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.
Mr. Isaacman, 41, was the first to exit, followed by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, 30. They were two of four civilian astronauts on board.
The spacewalk, which lasted several minutes outside the spacecraft, was designed to test SpaceX's new spacesuits, designed to keep astronauts safe in space with its radiation and extreme temperatures.
SpaceX spent more than two years developing the slim-fit suit, which is intended to allow for maximum mobility.
Called Polaris Dawn, the mission is a milestone for the growing commercial space industry as it continues to erode the longstanding government monopoly on the sector. The flight was commissioned by Isaacman, founder of payment engine Shift4 Payments and not affiliated with NASA. He did not say how much he paid for the flight.
Also on board were two other members: Scott "Kidd" Poteet, 51, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and fighter pilot, and Anna Menon, 39, who serves as SpaceX mission director and astronaut liaison.
They flew up on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA) early on the morning of September 10 (local time) on a mission expected to last 5 days.
SpaceX depressurized the spacecraft before opening the hatch, exposing all four crew members to the vacuum of space. Although they did not exit the spacecraft, astronauts Poteet and Menon wore spacesuits because the capsule did not have an airtight compartment.
Aside from the spacewalk, the spacecraft flew higher than any human spaceflight mission since the last Apollo moon mission in 1972.
The crew reached an altitude of more than 1,400 km, or three times higher than the International Space Station (ISS), and orbited the Earth six times at that altitude, before returning to a lower altitude for the spacewalk.
Any human spaceflight mission has risks, but the liftoff and descent of a spacecraft are particularly dangerous. Ground engineers must carefully choreograph the trajectory to ensure the capsule does not crash into satellites or space debris orbiting Earth.
"During this mission, the Dragon spacecraft will repeatedly pass through the orbital altitudes of more than 10 satellites and space debris. There is no room for error in our calculations," SpaceX founder Elon Musk wrote on social network X.
According to AFP, Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions of the Polaris program, a collaboration between Mr. Isaacman and SpaceX.
The Polaris mission is ultimately intended to carry out the first manned flight of SpaceX's Starship, a spacecraft prototype that plays a key role in Mr Musk's Mars colonization ambitions.
The fun of spacewalking
Spacewalks are among the most dangerous activities astronauts undertake, but they provide a first-hand view of Earth from space. NASA astronaut Ed White, the first American to walk in space in 1965, joked that he would not return to the Gemini spacecraft because "this was so much fun." Upon his return, he called it "the saddest moment of my life."
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