SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn is attempting the first private spacewalk

The world hasn’t seen a new kind of space-focused walk attempted since Michael Jackson’s legendary Motown 25 performance – until now.

This week, SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission is scheduled to try something never done before: sending private citizens on a spacewalk.

Background: Only government astronauts from the US, the Soviet Union/Russia, the European Space Agency, Canada, and China have conducted spacewalks. Since 2000, 270+ have been performed on/around the International Space Station – each with the astronauts donning an American or Russian spacesuit.

The…dawn of a new era?

When the first Polaris Dawn crew member steps foot outside the spacecraft, they’ll be testing a new spacesuit made by SpaceX.

• Spacesuits are tricky to nail: they have to provide life support and protection from space (radiation + average temp of -454.8°F), but can’t be too bulky (as fully pressurized suits usually are) since astronauts need to move around.
• The spacewalk’s primary goal is to learn as much as possible about SpaceX’s suit, which could prove key in sending astronauts to the Moon and Mars. NASA developed its current generation of spacesuits in the 1980s.

🧑‍🚀 Looking ahead… The five-day mission is scheduled to blast off tomorrow between 3:38 am–7:38 am ET. The team of four – Jared Isaacman, billionaire founder of Shift4 who's both funding and captaining the mission, retired Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon – is scheduled to perform ~40 experiments in total, with the spacewalk occurring on Day 3.