SpaceX launches daredevil billionaire, three others, aims for historic private spacewalk

Historic private spacewalk aims achieved (X: SpaceX)

In a groundbreaking venture, daredevil billionaire Jared Isaacman rocketed into orbit on Tuesday with the goal of achieving the first private spacewalk and reaching altitudes surpassing those of NASA’s Apollo missions.

Isaacman’s mission, a collaboration with SpaceX, involves developing and testing new spacesuits designed to withstand the harsh conditions of space. Unlike his previous solo flight, this trip is shared with SpaceX, marking a significant step in private space exploration.

Scheduled for Thursday, the spacewalk will be the first conducted by private citizens, though they will remain attached to the capsule. Spacewalks, once exclusive to professional astronauts, are now a routine part of missions at the International Space Station.

Isaacman and his crew, including SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot, launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. Their mission aims to reach an altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometres), surpassing the Earth-orbiting record set by NASA's Project Gemini in 1966. The plan is to spend 10 hours at this height before reducing the orbit to 435 miles (700 kilometres), which would surpass the space station and Hubble Space Telescope’s altitudes.

All four wore SpaceX’s spacewalking suits because the entire Dragon capsule will be depressurized for the two-hour spacewalk, exposing everyone to the dangerous environment.

Isaacman and SpaceX's Sarah Gillis will take turns briefly popping out of the hatch. They’ll test their white and black-trimmed custom suits by twisting their bodies. Both will always have a hand or foot touching the capsule or attached support structure that resembles the top of a pool ladder. There will be no dangling at the end of their 12-foot (3.6-meter) tethers and no jetpack showboating. Only NASA’s suits at the space station come equipped with jetpacks, for emergency use only.

Pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet and SpaceX’s Anna Menon will monitor the spacewalk from inside. Like SpaceX’s previous astronaut flights, this one will end with a splashdown off the Florida coast.

“We’re sending you hugs from the ground,” Launch Director Frank Messina radioed after the crew reached orbit. “May you make history and come home safely.”

Isaacman replied: “We wouldn’t be on this journey without all 14,000 of you back at SpaceX and everyone else cheering us on.”

At a preflight news conference, Isaacman — CEO and founder of the credit card processing company Shift4 — refused to say how much he invested in the flight. “Not a chance,” he said.

SpaceX teamed up with Isaacman to pay for spacesuit development and associated costs, said William Gerstenmaier, a SpaceX vice president who once headed space mission operations for NASA.

“We’re really starting to push the frontiers with the private sector,” Gerstenmaier said.

It’s the first of three trips that Isaacman bought from Elon Musk 2 1/2 years ago, soon after returning from his first private SpaceX spaceflight in 2021. Isaacman bankrolled that tourist ride for an undisclosed sum, taking along contest winners and a childhood cancer survivor. The trip raised hundreds of millions for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Spacesuit development took longer than anticipated, delaying this first so-called Polaris Dawn flight until now. Training was extensive; Poteet said it rivaled anything he experienced during his Air Force flying career.

As SpaceX astronaut trainers, Gillis and Menon helped Isaacman and his previous team — as well as NASA’s professional crews — prepare for their rides.

“I wasn’t alive when humans walked on the moon. I’d certainly like my kids to see humans walking on the moon and Mars, and venturing out and exploring our solar system," the 41-year-old Isaacman said before liftoff.

Poor weather caused a two-week delay. The crew needed favorable forecasts not only for launch, but for splashdown days later. With limited supplies and no ability to reach the space station, they had no choice but to wait for conditions to improve.

(Inputs from AP)