SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission crew completes first all-civilian spacewalk

Four private citizens orbiting Earth in a SpaceX capsule are making history by completing the world’s first all-civilian spacewalk.

Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon are the crew of the Polaris Dawn mission, which launched into space Tuesday to begin a five-day flight.

Their spacewalk began at 6:12 a.m. ET, having been delayed a few hours.

During the outing, Isaacman and Gillis exited the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a tether.

Although they are the only ones to venture outside the spacecraft, all four crew members wore and tested newly designed spacesuits during the event. That’s because the Crew Dragon does not have a pressurized airlock, so the entire capsule will be depressurized and exposed to vacuum conditions.

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Overall, the Polaris Dawn mission is designed to test procedures and technologies that could be used in future long-duration space missions.

Already in their journey, the crew members flew to the highest orbital altitude that humans have reached since the final Apollo moon mission in 1972: 870 miles above Earth’s surface.

The flight was funded by Isaacman for an undisclosed sum. [NBC News]