SpaceX Polaris - as it happened: Billionaire floats into space on risky first private spacewalk
The two hour spacewalk will take place at 5:58am ET (10:58am BST) on Thursday
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Two crew members of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission are attempting the first ever privately-funded spacewalk.
Billionaire Jared Isaacman stepped out of the Crew Dragon spacecraft just before midday to begin a two hour float in space at an orbit of 700 kilometres – nearly double the altitude of the International Space Station. A backup opportunity is available on Friday at the same time.
The main aim of the endeavour is to test SpaceX’s new extravehicular activity (EVA) astronaut suits, which have been designed to eventually take astronauts to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Fellow Polaris Dawn crew members Anna Menon and Kidd Poteet will remain in the capsule, with 36 research studies and experiments planned for the five day mission.
You can follow all the latest news, updates and analysis – and watch a live stream of the attempt as soon as it’s available – right here.
Polaris Dawn is ‘go to open hatch'
SpaceX ground control finally gives the go-ahead to open the top hatch as the Crew Dragon capsule completes its depressurisation.
Isaacman turns the lever and gives it a big tug to release the hatch.
‘Looks like a perfect world’: Isaacman exits the craft
The ground crew cheer as Isaacman exits the Crew Dragon craft for the first time.
The question I asked earlier of whether or not he has some pre-prepared words gets answered.
“Back at home we still have a lot of work to do,” he sayd, “but from here it looks like a perfect world.”
Crew members back inside capsule
Isaacman is back in the capsule after poking the top half of his body out.
Now it’s the turn of Sarah Gillis – a SpaceX employee who started at the company as an intern.
Second crew member exits craft
Sarah Gillis seems to get a better view than her crew commander as she floats out to her knees from the capsule.
She does a few arm movements to test the mobility of the EVA suit before sinking back into the Crew Dragon craft.
“Really cool to see one of our own out there, that’s awesome,” says the SpaceX commentator over the live stream.
Video signal lost
We’ve lost video signal as the Crew Dragon craft heads out over the Pacific Ocean, where there are no ground stations to relay the signal.
Capsule begins pressurisation
We still don’t have a video signal but SpaceX confirms that the mission is progressing as planned and the capsule is now repressurising.
Everything has gone to plan so far, proving the viability of both the Crew Dragon capsule and the extravehicular activity suits for spacewalks.
Three million people are still tuned in to SpaceX’s live stream, though there’s not much more to watch. We’ll have replays of the spacewalks shortly.
Video signal returns
The Crew Dragon capsule has crossed over the Pacific Ocean blackspot and video signal has returned, showing the Polaris Dawn crew safely inside. They’re still suited up as they await the pressurisation of the cabin to finish.
Polaris Dawn spacewalk successfully completed
“EVA operations are complete,” the Polaris Dawn crew confirms.
That means pressurisation of the Crew Dragon spacecraft has finished, which concludes today’s spacewalk.
A lot of historic firsts, including the first ever commercial spacewalk, as well as the most number of people exposed to an unpressurised space environment simultaneously.
You can read more about today’s spacewalk here.
Watch world’s first private spacewalk
Watch the moment billionaire Jared Isaacman exits the Crew Dragon spacecraft in the first ever privately-funded spacewalk.
Nasa and Musk congratulate Polaris Dawn crew
Nasa administrator Bill Nelson has called today’s successful spacewalk a “giant leap” forward in the commercial space industry, referencing the historic words of Neil Armstrong as he first stepped onto the Moon.
“Congratulations PolarisProgram and SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history,” the former astronaut posted to X. “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.”
SpaceX boss Elon Musk also praised the effort, writing: “Congratulations SpaceX Dragon team, Jared Isaacmand and the crew of the Polaris program!”
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