Tengrinews.kz - Two crew members of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, launched into orbit with four tourists, made the first-ever spacewalk.
The first private spacewalk in history by non-professional astronauts was conducted as part of the commercial mission Polaris Dawn. Billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis exited into space. For this operation, the cabin of the Crew Dragon, which does not have an airlock, was depressurized. The spacewalk was broadcast live.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned missions in the Polaris program, funded by Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman. The flight was initially scheduled for December 2021 but was repeatedly delayed due to project development setbacks.
Aboard the Crew Dragon are four tourists, three of whom are on their first flight. In addition to Isaacman and Gillis, the crew includes pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colone and SpaceX medic Anna Menon. The mission will travel 1,400 kilometers away from Earth, three times higher than the ISS.
Recall, in the evening of September 11, the Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It will deliver two Russian cosmonauts and one American NASA astronaut to the ISS.