A SpaceX crew undertakes the first privately funded spacewalk in the company’s riskiest mission yet.
A billionaire entrepreneur, a retired military fighter pilot and two SpaceX employees have been orbiting Earth aboard Crew Dragon from Florida since just before sunrise on Tuesday.
It’s the latest and riskiest attempt by the Elon Musk-led company to push the boundaries of commercial space travel.
The event will be livestreamed, with two astronauts leaving Crew Dragon and two remaining inside.
The capsule, which will be at an altitude of 700 km (435 miles), will be completely unpressurized and the entire crew will rely on their thin, SpaceX-developed spacesuits for oxygen.
Jared Isaacman, 41, a billionaire pilot and founder of electronic payments company Shift4, is funding the Polaris mission, just as he did his Inspiration4 flight with SpaceX in 2021.
The others on 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.
Follow the latest updates below…
The cabin is ventilated
11:32 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
The four crew members have now given the green light for ventilating the cabin. The pressure in the capsule will decrease during this process, but the pressure in the spacesuits will – if everything goes according to plan – remain approximately the same.
It is believed that this venting process will take about eight minutes.
What happens when the crew members leave the spacecraft?
11:30 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
American tech billionaire Jared Isaacman will be the first person to leave the capsule. He will help test new spacesuits (extravehicular activity suits) to see how they perform.
During the walk, mission commander Isaacman will exit the Dragon spacecraft and perform a series of mobility tests in the newly designed spacesuits, before returning to the cabin.
He will then return to the capsule, and Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis will leave, to perform the same sequence of actions. After re-entering Dragon, she will close the hatch of the spaceship.
Mission Pilot Kidd Poteet and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna Menon oversee key support systems during the operation.
Mr. Isaacman is sharing the cost of the mission with SpaceX.
The pressure in spacesuits is changed
11:19
The crew now have their visors down, sealing their spacesuits and allowing oxygen to be pumped into them.
The pressure in their suits increases and the suits visibly inflate slightly.
It takes a few minutes for the suits to reach the correct pressure, after which they are checked for leaks.
‘Crew to go on spacewalk,’ says ground control
11:12 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
The crew has just received the green light from SpaceX headquarters.
They have been told to close the visors on their spacesuits so that the oxygen supply can begin.
“The crew is going on a spacewalk,” they are told by ground control.
Crew bump fists
11:11 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
We now see the suited crew members bumping their fists as they prepare to close their visors and begin the spacewalk.
Crew performs final checks
11:05 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
The Dragon crew is currently doing a final evaluation of their carefully choreographed routine,
Helmet cameras are being prepared
11:03 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
The cameras attached to the crew’s helmets will soon be turned on and will undoubtedly provide impressive images.
Reminder: You can watch the live broadcast of the spacewalk at the top of this page.
Photo shows inside the spacecraft as the crew prepares for a spacewalk
11:02 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
This is the first live look inside the SpaceX craft as crew members prepare for the spacewalk.
Spacewalk is about to begin
11:00 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
The process begins now.
According to SpaceX’s schedule, Isaacman will be the first to leave the spacecraft at around 11:30 a.m. (BST), followed by Gillis 18 minutes later.
The crew has been training for two and a half years
10:47 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
Only government astronauts with years of training have conducted spacewalks in the past.
Since its inception in 2000, the International Space Station has hosted about 270 astronauts, including 16 by Chinese astronauts at the Tiangong Space Station in Beijing.
The Polaris crew trained for two and a half years using SpaceX mission simulations and “experiential learning” in challenging, uncomfortable environments, said crew member Scott Poteet.
Last month, Mr. Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, told reporters in Florida that preparing for space flight was more intense than anything he had experienced in his military career.
“I can tell you without a doubt that this is one of the most challenging training exercises I have ever experienced,” said retired Lt. Col. Poteet at Cape Canaveral before the launch.
Photo shows view from the capsule
10:43 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
A photo shared by SpaceX this morning shows a sunset in orbit around Earth, taken from the SpaceX Dragon capsule.
Who is on board the spacecraft?
10:34
A billionaire entrepreneur, a retired military fighter pilot and two SpaceX employees have been orbiting Earth aboard the Crew Dragon capsule since the Polaris Dawn mission launched from Florida before sunrise on Tuesday.
Jared Isaacman, 41, a billionaire pilot and founder of electronic payments company Shift4, is funding the Polaris mission, just as he did his Inspiration4 flight with SpaceX in 2021.
He won’t say how much he’s paying for the missions, but they likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars, based on the price Crew Dragon charges for other flights, which is about $55 million per seat.
The others on 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.
During the spacewalk, Isaacman and Gillis exit the Crew Dragon via an oxygen line, while Poteet and Menon remain inside.
First privately funded spacewalk about to take place
10:28 , Lydia Chantler-Hicks
Good morning and welcome to the Standard live blog.
We bring you the latest updates on the first private spacewalk in history, which is happening soon.
A group of astronauts leave a SpaceX capsule to test a new line of spacesuits in the company’s riskiest mission yet, pushing the boundaries of commercial space travel.