The world’s first commercial space walk, performed by billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, tested new technology and was practically flawless
It wasn’t a small step—more a clamber, really—but as billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman climbed partway out of a SpaceX Dragon capsule located nearly 740 kilometers above Earth on early Thursday morning, he made a giant leap into spaceflight history.
Minutes later, at 6:51 A.M., Isaacman ascended a specially designed hand-and-foothold platform called Skywalker and peered at the planet whirling below—a cloud-streaked, sunlit stretch of open ocean between Australia and Antarctica. Dragon’s high speed was rapidly carrying the spacecraft into orbital night, a great shadowy dividing line draped across the globe.
The mission plan called for only Isaacman and Gillis to leave the Dragon’s confines, taking 10-minute turns to peek out at the starry firmament and the world whirling far below. Menon and Poteet stayed behind for the duration, monitoring the spacecraft’s health and wrangling the trailing 3.5-meter-long life-support umbilicals that provided oxygen, power and other essentials to the spacewalking pair.
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