In a video feed from SpaceX, the first astronaut, Jared Isaacman, was seen exiting the ship, followed a few minutes later by Sarah Gillis.
Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, members of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, are conducting the first private spacewalk in history. The walk is being filmed and broadcast live.
Extravehicular activity (EVA) officially began at 10:12 GMT when oxygen began to flow into the astronauts’ suits.
At 12:44 French time, the astronauts began to open the door to the void of space.
The aim of the operation is to test the very first suits of Elon Musk’s company, intended for space, white and with a futuristic look.
At 12:51, the door was opened by the astronauts. Jared Isaacman began the exit. He was followed at 1:06 p.m. by Sarah Gillis who in turn partially exited the vehicle.
The spacewalk is carried out at an altitude of approximately 700 km above Earth, while the International Space Station (ISS) operates at an altitude of approximately 400 km.
Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis are scheduled to go out in turns, each lasting 15 to 20 minutes. They will not float untethered in space, but will use a structure called Skywalker, placed on the front of the capsule and made up of bars, to hold on and perform movements.
Two years of training
“It’s going to feel a little bit like we’re dancing,” Jared Isaacman explained at a press conference last month.
The suits are connected by cords to the ship to supply them with oxygen in particular.
The spacewalk is expected to last about two hours, much less than the spacewalks of government agency astronauts outside the ISS, where they also perform highly technical tasks. The four crew members have undergone more than two years of training to prepare for this historic mission.
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