SpaceX launches first commercial spacewalk on historic Polaris Dawn mission

SpaceX, the company responsible for the Polaris Dawn mission, is broadcasting this historic event. On Thursday, 12th September, at 09:55 GMT, the demonstration of the first private spacewalk began, during which astronauts tested a new spacesuit. The event was expected to last approximately 20 minutes. Currently, the crew is preparing to exit the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Oxygen (O₂) is being fed into the spacesuits to ensure there are no leaks. SpaceX has officially commenced the mission for the spacewalk, and the hatch will open shortly.

Although there is still much to discover and explore on Earth, humanity has been eager to conquer space for decades. It has been 63 years since the first flight into this previously unknown realm, and history is still being made before our eyes. This is thanks to the Polaris Dawn mission, which is exceptional for two reasons.

First and foremost, the Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft, launched by the Falcon 9 rocket with a four-person crew from the Polaris Dawn programme, will reach the highest Earth orbit achieved by humans since the Apollo programme. This means that no one has been this high in over 50 years.

But that is not all. SpaceX informs us that this historic flight will include a spacewalk. The spacecraft with the crew will lower its altitude to 700 kilometres before this event, from which it will return to Earth in the following days. At this altitude, the Polaris Dawn crew will conduct the mission's key element: the first commercial spacewalk in history.

Two people will leave the Crew Dragon spacecraft: Jared Isaacman, who is on his second spaceflight (the first was in 2021) and serving as the commander on board, and Scott Poteet, who is participating as the pilot.

The other two members of this extraordinary mission are engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. They are also the first SpaceX employees to go to space.

SpaceX informs us that the current mission is not only focused on popularising space flights and accelerating the development of space tourism. Polaris Dawn (one of the three missions within the Polaris programme) also aims to conduct research related to the impact of space flights and cosmic radiation on the human body.

Engineers will test new spacesuits from SpaceX – Extravehicular Activity (EVA) several hundred miles above Earth. Even though only two astronauts will leave the vehicle, all four crew members will wear them. This is due to the construction of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. It does not have an airlock, so the entire capsule interior will be exposed to the vacuum of space and the radiation there.

The EVA spacesuit test will last two hours in total. The spacewalk itself will take 20 minutes, during which the duo will perform various movements to test the spacesuits' functionality and manoeuvrability. The remaining time is necessary to close the hatch and repressurize the cabin.