A 59-Year-Old Feat
The silhouette of Jared Isaacman partially emerging from the Crew Dragon “Resilience” spacecraft from SpaceX on September 12 in the late morning (Paris time) resembled images of the first steps into the void by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on March 18, 1965 (mission Voskhod 2).
Except this time, the event was streamed live on the internet, thanks to Starlink satellites from SpaceX.
Moreover, the feat was achieved by a non-professional (but very experienced) astronaut as part of a commercial mission, Polaris Dawn, which had started two days earlier.
A Perfect World
For about ten minutes, the American billionaire cautiously conducted mobility tests of the spacesuit developed for the occasion by SpaceX.
He was also able to admire the Earth from 738 km altitude, over Australia, as the spacecraft descended into the night of orbit: “Down here, he declared, we all have a lot of work to do. But from here, the Earth looks like a perfect world.”
Then it was Sarah Gillis, an employee at SpaceX, who engaged in the same exercises, also attached to the railing fixed to the outside of the spacecraft and without ever fully exiting the hatch – it would be more appropriate to refer to this as a stand-up extravehicular activity (SEVA – Stand-Up Extravehicular Activity).
During the entire duration of the operations, the cabin was completely depressurized and the entire crew was wearing a spacesuit.
A Mission Without Operational Utility
Bill Nelson, the administrator of Nasa, congratulated the Polaris Dawn project and SpaceX on his X account, considering that “Today’s success represents a giant leap for the commercial space industry and NASA’s long-term goal of building a dynamic American space economy.”
However, one might question the true purpose of this daring mission, which has no operational utility and required long and costly preparations; presented as a first step in developing space tourism, Jared Isaacman’s walk mainly serves as a new demonstration of SpaceX’s technological strength.