SpaceX Polaris Dawn LIVE: Billionaire Jared Isaacman completes first privately-funded spacewalk

A billionaire has become the first non-professional astronaut to walk in space.

Entrepreneur Jared Isaacman said "It's gorgeous" as he stepped out of the hatch of the Crew Dragon SpaceX craft.

"Back at home we still have a lot of work to do," he said, "But from here it looks like a perfect world."

After Isaacman returned to the craft Mission specialist, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis exited the craft left the craft, and completed the same series of mobility tests as were carried out by Mr Isaacson. She then climbed back into the cabin before closing the hatch.

The first privately-funded spacewalk is SpaceX’s riskiest mission yet.

The businessman and three other crew have been orbiting Earth aboard Crew Dragon since Tuesday’s pre-dawn launch from Florida of the Polaris Dawn mission.

It is the Elon Musk -led company’s latest bid to push the boundaries of commercial spaceflight.The event was livestreamed.

The capsule, at an altitude of 700 km (435 miles), was completely depressurised, and the whole crew relied on their slim, SpaceX-developed spacesuits for oxygen.

Isaacman, 41, a pilot and the billionaire founder of electronic payments company Shift4, is bankrolling the Polaris mission, as he did his Inspiration4 flight with SpaceX in 2021.

The others in Polaris include mission pilot Scott Poteet, 50, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis, 30, and Anna Menon, 38, both senior engineers.

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