Billionaire and engineer conduct first private spacewalk in SpaceX mission

September 12, 2024 9:37 PM

Billionaire and engineer conduct first private spacewalk in SpaceX mission

Two astronauts - a billionaire and an engineer - completed the world's first private spacewalk in orbit on Thursday outside a SpaceX capsule, wearing a new line of spacesuits in a risky feat previously exclusive to astronauts from national space programs. The astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission went one at a time, each spending about 10 minutes outside the gumdrop-shaped Crew Dragon capsule on a tether, as Elon Musk's company again succeeded in pushing the boundaries of commercial spacefligh...

SpaceX-Polaris crew exits capsule for first private spacewalk

September 12, 2024 5:31 PM

SpaceX-Polaris crew exits capsule for first private spacewalk

A crew of four aboard a SpaceX capsule embarked on the world's first private spacewalk on Thursday, as an astronaut eased out of the Crew Dragon spacecraft on a tether into the vacuum of space, hundreds of miles from Earth. Billionaire Jared Isaacman, 41, exited first about 6:52 a.m. ET (1052 GMT). After he returned a few minutes later, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, 30, was scheduled to take her turn in space, all their maneuvers streaming live on the company's website. "Back at home we al...