Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman has just become the first civilian to perform a spacewalk. Forbeshe looks back on this extraordinary experience.
Article by Giacomo Tognini for Forbes US – translated by Flora Lucas
Back on Earth a week after his historic spacewalk, Jared Isaacman is still catching up on sleep. “I think I just set a new record for sleep deprivation during this five-day mission.”he says with a laugh in a phone call from his home in Pennsylvania.
The Polaris Dawn Mission
In mid-September, the billionaire took part in a historic orbital mission called Polaris Dawn, reaching an altitude of 1,400 kilometers (900 miles), the highest orbit of Earth by a human since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. On September 12, he also became the first civilian to perform a spacewalk, alongside SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, who led the mission and designed the brand-new spacesuits worn by Isaacman and the three other crew members.
“I didn’t expect to feel what I felt. In my mind, I had visualized each step and, in the simulators, we had performed this choreography hundreds of times.”explains Jared Isaacman about his experience during the spacewalk, technically known as extravehicular activity (EVA). “I didn’t expect all the other senses to come into play. It’s very cold, the adrenaline starts to rise and there’s a physical effort because the spacesuit, when it’s pressurized, is very rigid. All of this adds to the visual stimulus of the Earth, and it’s very impressive.”
The spacewalk was supposed to last about two hours, but the entire process only took about 90 minutes. Jared Isaacman and his crewmates spent two and a half years training for the mission. Only Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis exited SpaceX’s Dragon 2 spacecraft, but all four crew members, including SpaceX engineer Anna Menon and Scott “Kidd” Poteet, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot and longtime friend of Isaacman, donned their spacesuits as the spacecraft depressurized.
“When I looked away from the Earth, I felt a different sensation than I expected. It was not a warm or serene feeling.”explains Jared Isaacman. “We’re not designed to survive in extremely harsh conditions. But there’s a lot to discover and that just means we’re going to have to work really hard and be well prepared to be able to explore it all.”
Polaris Dawn is Jared Isaacman’s second trip to space. His first, in September 2021, was part of his Inspiration4 initiative, the first all-civilian space mission. On that trip, he was accompanied by Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and two civilian astronauts selected through a raffle held by St. Jude and a contest designed by Isaacman’s payments company Shift4. The mission raised more than $250 million for the hospital, with $125 million reportedly coming from Isaacman and $55 million coming from Musk.
One of the most emotional moments Jared Isaacman experienced during the Polaris Dawn mission was when his colleague Sarah Gillis, a classically trained violinist, played the violin aboard the spacecraft. The moment was broadcast in real time via Starlink, and her rendition of the ” Rey’s Theme ” of Star Wars was accompanied by orchestras from all over the world. “It was a very emotional moment,” he says.
The most terrifying? Probably re-entry into the atmosphere, according to Jared Isaacman. “It’s very different from climbing. The blood pressure is much higher, because you’re very vulnerable. You have no control, you have to go home.”he explains with a laugh. “You’re in a high-risk environment of meteorite debris. You don’t know if you’ve taken what could be a catastrophic impact, so in a second it could all be over. You feel the g-forces a lot more because your body has been deconditioned, so everything feels more intense, like an elephant is sitting on your chest.”
SpaceX plans two more space missions
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions by SpaceX. A second mission aboard the Dragon 2 spacecraft is expected in about two to three years, and a third a little later. The timing of the third voyage also depends on the progress of SpaceX’s new spacecraft and rocket system, Starship, which is expected to carry astronauts on the third Polaris mission. Elon Musk congratulated Jared Isaacman on the Polaris Dawn mission on his social media platform X, reposting a video of Jared Isaacman speaking during his spacewalk: ” Back home, we have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth looks like a perfect world.”
Jared Isaacman’s payments company Shift4 is also an investor in SpaceX. The company invested $27.5 million in the rocket company in December 2021, when it was valued at about $100 billion. SpaceX is now valued at $208 billion after its latest funding round in June. The value of Shift4’s less than 1% stake in SpaceX increased by about 140% to $66 million at the end of June, according to an analysis of the company’s filings by Forbes.
Jared Isaacman and SpaceX appear to have shared the cost of the Polaris Dawn mission, but have not disclosed how much they spent. Some reports put the cost of the mission in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In an emailed statement to ForbesJared Isaacman said those numbers aren’t exact, but he wouldn’t elaborate on the total cost. Despite his spending in space, Jared Isaacman remains very wealthy, with an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion, largely from his 25% stake in publicly traded company Shift4.
“Personally, I have not gained any economic benefit from these projects”explains Jared Isaacman. “I’ve just been very fortunate in life and have accumulated resources that I can focus on areas that I’m passionate about. St. Jude is obviously one of those areas and opening this final frontier is another.”
Three specific scientific objectives
Unlike Jared Isaacman’s first space flight, which aimed to demonstrate that civilian astronauts could safely travel to orbit, Polaris Dawn had more specific scientific goals. “We had three main objectives. We were going very, very high, in a very hostile environment, with radiation and micrometeorite debris.”explains the billionaire. “We tested new spacesuits, new communication methods and some 40 scientific research experiments that will contribute to the development of future long-duration missions.”
Jared Isaacman and the rest of the crew spent several days after their return with scientists who monitored their vital signs, including ultrasounds of all their vital organs, which will help the astronauts prepare for future missions. The data provided by the spacesuits will also contribute to the design of the next generation of suits developed by SpaceX.
Now that he’s back on Earth, Jared Isaacman is looking forward to future space missions, but he’s also concerned about the unstable environment on his home planet, especially in this U.S. election year. “Every day there are almost violent debates on all political issues, on the suffering that exists in this world”he says. “If we can step away from these debates from time to time and see what unites us and what we can accomplish together, we can build a much better, brighter, more exciting future for tomorrow. There can be a balance.”
Also read: SpaceX: Private Polaris Down space mission launched with billionaire Jared Isaacman on board
