Drama of risky spacewalk was heightened as the crew made do without airlock chamber

2 months ago 23

The first privately-funded spacewalk was box office from start to finish.

With the air sucked out of the Dragon capsule, and the hatch open to the void of space, we watched as the billionaire bankrolling the Polaris Dawn mission hauled himself outside to reveal planet Earth below.

This was never going to be a zero-gravity ballet on the outside of the capsule.

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn spacewalk was labelled a 'highly risky mission'.

Jared Isaacman only stood by the door with the safety of handrails never far away and attached by an umbilical cable to his life support systems.

But this was still a significant moment. Up to now only government-funded space agency astronauts have exited a space capsule. Now a commercial operator can do it too.

The whole purpose was to test new SpaceX suits that are being developed for private missions to the Moon and Mars.

So we saw Commander Isaacman twist, turn and move his arms, confirming that he had the mobility that will be needed to work in space.

And in these more enlightened times he was followed by SpaceX employee Sarah Gillis who performed the same checks, confirming that the suit was a good fit for women too.

It's a much slimmer suit than the puffed-up protective layers worn by astronauts when they venture outside the International Space Station.

And significantly the SpaceX suit can be manufactured at scale. Elon Musk wants thousands made for all the privately-funded astronauts he believes will be heading to Mars in the next few years.

The tests seemed to go well. But a spacewalk is risky and never more so when it's being done from a space capsule that wasn't designed to host one.

The Dragon was only ever meant to be de-pressurised to a vacuum in an emergency.

So we saw the crew make do without the normal airlock, the double-doored chamber that seals the ISS from space when astronauts venture outside.