SpaceX launches billionaire Jared Isaacman to conduct world’s 1st private spacewalk
Considered one of the riskiest parts of space flight, spacewalks have been done only by professional astronauts – until now
A daredevil billionaire rocketed back into orbit on Tuesday, aiming to perform the first private spacewalk and venture farther than anyone since Nasa’s Apollo moonshots.
Unlike his previous chartered flight, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX this time around, which included developing and testing brand new spacesuits to see how they’ll hold up in the harsh vacuum.
If all goes as planned, it will be the first time private citizens conduct a spacewalk, but they will not venture away from the capsule.
Considered one of the riskiest parts of space flight, spacewalks have been the sole realm of professional astronauts since the former Soviet Union popped open the hatch in 1965, closely followed by the US. Today, they are routinely done at the International Space Station.
Isaacman, along with a pair of SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot, launched before dawn aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. The spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday, midway through the five-day flight.
But first the passengers are shooting for way beyond the International Space Station – an altitude of 1,400km (870 miles), which would surpass the Earth-lapping record set during Nasa’s Project Gemini in 1966. Only the 24 Apollo astronauts who flew to the moon have ventured farther.
