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SpaceX Polaris Dawn Astronauts Complete First Private Spacewalk (Video)

Polaris Dawn has made history again.

SpaceX’s private team of four astronauts conducted the world’s first commercial spacewalk while floating high above Earth on Thursday (Sept. 12), the third day of a five-day journey to orbit.

“SpaceX, we still have a lot of work to do at home, but from here the world looks perfect,” said Jared Isaacman, commander of Polaris Dawn and the American billionaire who funded the mission, as he looked down at Earth from largely outside the Dragon hatch.

Private astronaut Jared Isaacman stands partially outside SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft during the first-ever commercial spacewalk on Sept. 12, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX launched the four astronauts — Isaacman, pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet” and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon (both of SpaceX) — into orbit on Tuesday (Sept. 10) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off from NASA’s historic Launch Complex-39A at Kennedy Space Center. It was the same launch pad where Apollo 11, the first mission to put humans on the moon, took place.

Fifteen hours later, the crew made their first piece of space history when they reached an altitude of 870 miles (1,400.7 kilometers), higher than any manned mission since the Apollo program half a century ago. Another NASA mission, Gemini 11, previously held the altitude record for a manned spacecraft in Earth orbit at 853 miles (1,373 km).

Sarah Gillis, a mission specialist on SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn, climbs out of the hatch of the company’s Dragon spacecraft, becoming the company’s first employee to conduct a spacewalk on Sept. 12, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

But Polaris Dawn didn’t stop there.