Space History Written: First Commercial Spacewalk

SpaceX has completed the first-ever commercial spacewalk. Billionaire Jared Isaacman stepped out of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and walked in space for about 10 minutes. After 12 minutes, it was Sarah Gillis' turn, a SpaceX engineer, to walk in space for 10 minutes.

First Private Spacewalk Ever

It's a bit disappointing that it wasn't a woman who made the first spacewalk, but "who pays, decides." And in this case: who pays writes history. Jared Isaacman funded this mission, so he was not alone: Gillis accompanied him while Scott Poteet and Anna Menon stayed aboard to monitor things. The mission launched last Tuesday and will remain in space for five days.

The spacewalk was still a bit tense as there was an hour's delay. Fortunately, it has now come to fruition, and the first private spacewalk is indeed a fact: congratulations SpaceX. Previously, these were only done by astronauts from government agencies like NASA. A spacewalk like perhaps your imagination envisions wasn't exactly what it was.

They didn't float around; it was more about sticking an arm and half a body out. Perhaps a bit of a letdown for those who expected something akin to a marathon, but nonetheless, it is still very special: these people were in the dark void of space without the protection of a capsule that maintains the right pressure. By the way, this is normal for a spacewalk: as soon as you are out of the apparatus, you are doing a spacewalk.