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SpaceX can add another tick to its first-ever list after a four-person crew of civilians on board SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission made history as the first group of non-government astronauts to conduct a spacewalk.

The extravehicular activity (EVA) set a dangerous and historic milestone in the Polaris Dawn crew’s five-day journey around Earth.

The mission has already set several records, travelling farther into space than any human since NASA’s Apollo program concluded more than 50 years ago.

The crew includes Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, Polaris Dawn’s financer; his close friend and former US Air Force pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet; and SpaceX engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.

Isaacman was the first to leave the capsule after the whole SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was responsible for protecting and propelling the crew, was depressurised and exposed to space’s vacuum. Isaacman then ascended a mobility device that SpaceX has called the “skywalker,” to take in the breathtaking view.

“Back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here — looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman said.

The only two crew members to leave the spaceship were Gillis and Isaacman, and they did so for around twenty minutes in total. After about ten minutes, Isaacman returned to his seat and Gillisleft the capsule where she spent her time outside wriggling around in her spacesuit to evaluate its range of motion.

The rest of the crew was still treated to breathtaking vistas out of the cabin’s windows, offering mind-blowing glimpses of Earth passing below. The Polaris Dawn crew witnesses a sunrise and sunset every 106 minutes.

“It is honestly one of my favorite views. The sun peaks over the horizon and the whole world just lights up — or the whole world goes to sleep. And you just get to witness this hour after hour, and it’s so beautiful. Our Earth is so beautiful.”

During the spacewalk, the crew’s spacecraft travelled between 190 and 700 kilometres above Earth, despite having previously achieved an impressive height of more than 1,400 kilometres.

Seeing the Eart like this must be mind-blowing.

Following the historic spacewalk, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson offered his congratulations to the crew on X, saying, “Congratulations Polaris Program and SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history!”

“Today’s success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and NASA‘s long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy.”

The Polaris Dawn crew will spend another couple of days in orbit checking off the remaining mission goals.

[source:cnn]