Billionaire Isaacman completes historic spacewalk.

Tỉ phú Isaacman hoàn thành chuyến đi bộ lịch sử ngoài không gian- Ảnh 1. — Isaacman stepped out of the spacecraft to take a spacewalk.

The Washington Post reported on September 12th that American billionaire Jared Isaacman had just completed the first private astronaut spacewalk, which was televised live from outside SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.

Isaacman (41 years old) was the first to disembark, followed by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis (30 years old). They were two of the four civilian astronauts on board.

The spacewalk by the two astronauts lasted a few minutes outside the spacecraft, intended to test SpaceX's new spacesuit. The suit is designed to keep astronauts safe in space from radiation and extreme temperatures.

SpaceX spent over two years developing the form-fitting and streamlined suit to allow for maximum mobility.

Called Polaris Dawn, this mission was a milestone for the burgeoning commercial space industry as it continued to erode the government 's long-standing monopoly in the field. The flight was commissioned by Isaacman, the founder of the payment tool Shift4 Payments, and was not affiliated with NASA. He did not say how much he paid for the flight.

The spacecraft also carried two other members: Scott "Kidd" Poteet (51), a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and fighter pilot, and Anna Menon (39), SpaceX mission director and astronaut liaison.

They launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral (Florida, USA) early on the morning of September 10 (local time) on a mission expected to last 5 days.

SpaceX depressurized the spacecraft before opening the hatch, exposing all four crew members to the vacuum of space. Although they didn't exit the spacecraft, astronauts Poteet and Menon were wearing spacesuits because the capsule lacked an airtight seal.

In addition to the spacewalk, the spacecraft has flown higher than any human spaceflight mission since the last Apollo moon landing in 1972.

The crew reached an altitude of over 1,400 km, or three times that of the International Space Station (ISS), and orbited the Earth six times at that altitude before flying back to a lower altitude for a spacewalk.

Any human spaceflight mission carries risks, but the ascent and descent of a spacecraft is particularly dangerous. Ground engineers must be meticulous about orbital trajectory to ensure the capsule does not collide with a satellite or space debris orbiting Earth.

"During this mission, the Dragon spacecraft will repeatedly travel through the orbital altitudes of more than 10 satellites and space debris. There is no room for error in our calculations," SpaceX founder Elon Musk wrote on social media.

According to AFP, Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions in the Polaris program, a collaboration between Isaacman and SpaceX.

The Polaris mission ultimately aimed to make the first crewed flight aboard SpaceX's Starship, a prototype spacecraft that played a key role in Musk's ambitions to colonize Mars.

The excitement of spacewalks

Spacewalks are one of the most dangerous activities astronauts undertake, but they offer a direct view of Earth from space. NASA astronaut Ed White, the first American to walk in space in 1965, joked that he wouldn't return to the Gemini spacecraft because "it was so much fun." Upon his return, he called it "the saddest moment of my life."

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