For a long time, only government space people in big, heavy suits could do spacewalks. They were part of the old Apollo trips and the International Space Station. But in September 2024, things took a new turn. The Polaris Dawn mission sent four everyday people into space for the first spacewalk paid for by private money. This started a new part of space travel where companies play a big role.
Polaris Dawn Crew: Meet the Trailblazers
Commanding the mission is Jared Isaacman, head of Shift4 Payments and a seasoned pilot with a history of pushing boundaries. Isaacman commanded Inspiration4, the world’s first all-civilian orbital mission, before. He will be accompanied by Scott “Kidd” Poteet, a former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and fighter pilot; Sarah Gillis, SpaceX Lead Space Operations Engineer and astronaut instructor; and Anna Menon, another SpaceX Lead Space Operations Engineer with many years of experience in mission control and biomedical operations.
The team has both a go-getter drive and deep tech know-how. The two SpaceX folks on the trip gave real views on how the firm’s thoughts on trade space trips are changing. This trip is more to learn than making history.
Engineering the First Private Spacewalk: Spacesuit Innovation
SpaceX had a special challenge: the Crew Dragon capsule, Resilience, does not have a standard airlock. For this EVA, the entire capsule was depressurized, with all four crew members being exposed to space vacuum—a record of most people outside a spacecraft simultaneously without an airlock.
The sounds and helmets for this mission are a big leap forward. Based on SpaceX’s intravehicular designs, they provide enhanced mobility, a helmet with a heads-up display and camera, enhanced thermal management, and materials borrowed from Falcon rockets. The polycarbonate visor is thermally coated, with anti-fog coating inside. Spiral zippers for waist and forearms enhance flexibility, while the two-piece design enables both launch and spacewalks to be conducted with the same suit, without requiring multiple suits.
Unlike NASA’s legendary bulky white suits, the SpaceX EVA suits don’t have life support backpacks. Oxygen and life support are provided by hoses attached to the spacecraft, which makes the suits lighter and less bulky. Isaacman and SpaceX advisor Garrett Reisman state that the long-term vision is to produce suits that can be mass-made for future space colonies, as opposed to custom-made, multimillion-dollar units.
The Mission Profile: Pushing Boundaries
Polaris Dawn rode a Falcon 9 rocket into space from Kennedy Space Center, targeting an elliptical orbit of 1,400 kilometers—the highest human flight since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The spacewalk itself took around 20 minutes. Following a pre-breathe procedure to prevent decompression sickness, Isaacman and Gillis made their way out of the capsule, testing the new suits for flexibility and comfort. Gillis was concerned with movement and agility, a step essential in designing the suits to feel and perform more like street clothes.
Risks and Challenges: Vacuum, Radiation, and Debris
The mission had significant dangers. When the capsule was fully depressurized, any loss of repressurization could have left the crew to depend exclusively on suit oxygen for return quickly—a situation Isaacman referred to as the largest worry of the mission. The crew was also exposed to radiation as well as impacts from space debris or micrometeoroids.
In spite of these risks, careful preparation guaranteed safety. Additional tanks of nitrogen and oxygen were fitted, and the spacecraft was strengthened to withstand the vacuum. Isaacman made it clear that no accomplishment was worth risking the crew’s lives.
Science in Orbit: Experiments and Implications
Polaris Dawn was not just a historic spacewalk—it was a functional lab. The astronauts completed almost 40 experiments, including intersatellite laser communications with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, biomedical research on decompression sickness and spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS), and more. One of the experiments was contact lenses embedded with pressure sensors to monitor the effect on the eyes under microgravity—a project that Gillis jokingly referred to as the “cyborg experiment.”
NASA head Bill Nelson said that the task was a big jump for the trade space group and the U.S. space market. The know-how learned will help plan the next moves and aid the big dream of humans living on many planets.
The Human Side of Spaceflight: Views from Orbit
Aside from the science, Polaris Dawn provided stunning human experiences. Isaacman told Earth from orbit looked peaceful. Anna Menon was awed at witnessing sunrises and sunsets every 106 minutes, saying it was one of the highlights of the experience.
The astronauts posted selfies and photos of Earth taken through Starlink laser communications, the first social media posts sent directly from space. The views give us glimpses of what spaceflight is truly about—more than engineering—it’s about broadening the human viewpoint.
Polaris Dawn has established a new standard for what can happen when commercial vision, technology expertise, and the desire to explore come together. Private spacewalks are a reality now, and the sky is no longer the limit.
