A crew of four people on a private mission aboard a SpaceX capsule, the company of American Elon Musk, conducted the world’s first commercial spacewalk on Thursday (12).
The four crew members were exposed to the vacuum of space, but only Jared Isaacman, billionaire CEO of the technology, and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis exited the SpaceX capsule. Crew mates Scott “Kidd” Poteet and Anna Menon remained inside the capsule.
The spacewalk lasted about two hours, with Isaacman and Gillis venturing outside the spacecraft for about 20 minutes.
Why is today’s spacewalk historic?
Spacewalks are not new.
NASA has been performing this feat since the Gemini program was launched in the United States in 1965.
Since then, astronauts from around the world have used spacewalk technology to explore the surface of the moon, maintain the Hubble Space Telescope, and help build the International Space Station (ISS). Today, spacewalks are routinely used on the ISS to allow astronauts to maintain the exterior of the laboratory.
But what SpaceX did on Thursday was take a big step toward commercializing these capabilities, meaning the possibility for anyone to walk in space, not just government astronauts.
Never before has a crew made up entirely of ordinary citizens outside the scope of a government space program completed such an undertaking.
To be clear, SpaceX’s spacesuits are still in the early days of development. And Thursday’s spacewalk was just a test.
But SpaceX’s goal is to commercialize space travel and drastically reduce costs, hoping that these efforts will lead to a future where people can afford to live and work in space.
And NASA, for the record, supports this shift toward privatization. For years, the space agency has embraced efforts to “commercialize” the industry.
NASA chief Bill Nelson celebrated the “giant leap,” sending congratulations to the four-person team of Polaris Dawn and SpaceX:
“Congratulations @PolarisProgram and @SpaceX on the first commercial spacewalk in history! Today’s success represents a giant leap for the commercial space industry and @NASA’s long-term goal of building a vibrant space economy in the U.S.,” he said in a post on X.
Source: CNN