Billionaire Jared Isaacman and engineer Sarah Gillis are set to venture into the darkness of space when they exit their SpaceX Dragon capsule to perform the first civilian spacewalk on Friday.
The Polaris Dawn mission is set to launch on Wednesday - delayed from Tuesday due to technical issues with the Falcon 9 rocket - from Florida for a five-day trip around the Earth.
It will carry four passengers to an altitude of about 700km – further than any humans have travelled since the Apollo era, which ended in 1972.
At that height, Mr Isaacman, 41, who is no stranger to adrenalin-filled stunts, and Ms Gillis, 30, a SpaceX astronaut trainer who usually keeps her feet on the ground, are aiming to float their way into the history books.
Also on board the Dragon capsule carried into space by a Falcon 9 rocket will be retired US Air Force officer Scott Poteet and Anna Menon, another SpaceX engineer.
Until now, spacewalks have always been the preserve of professional astronauts venturing into the unforgiving environment of space.
Mr Isaacman, chief executive of payment processing firm Shift4, said on a YouTube briefing last week that it is risky “because you're throwing away all the safety of your vehicle, right? And it now comes down to your suit – it becomes your spaceship.”
“Once your suit is good and you're ready to go, I imagine, a lot of people someday in the future are going to be – maybe even families – bouncing around on the lunar surface in their in their SpaceX EVA [extravehicular activity, or spacewalk] suit,” said Mr Isaacman.
The mission was first announced in 2022 as part of the broader Polaris programme, funded by Mr Isaacman.
Jared Isaacman: Entrepreneur behind mission
In addition to his business achievements, Mr Isaacman is a trained pilot with numerous world records, including one for circumnavigating the globe in a light jet.
In 2021, he made headlines as mission commander for the first all-civilian mission to space. Inspiration4, which also launched aboard SpaceX, carried the billionaire and three other crew members around Earth for three days.
Polaris Dawn will be SpaceX's fifth crewed private space mission, with another – Fram2 – scheduled for later this year.
Sarah Gillis: Engineer ready to fly
At 30, Ms Gillis has already carved out a significant role in the industry, working as a lead space operations engineer at SpaceX.
While on Earth she has been involved in training astronauts for some of the company’s most critical missions, Ms Gillis will now step into the spotlight – and into space.
SpaceX spacewalk suit
For the Polaris Dawn mission, SpaceX has developed a spacesuit specifically for the first civilian spacewalk.
It includes all the essentials of a spacesuit, such as a built-in life support system that controls temperature and pressure, flexible joints for easier movement and an integrated communication system for constant contact with mission control.
But compared to traditional spacesuits, the SpaceX suit is lighter, more flexible and incorporates modern technology to make spacewalks more accessible for civilians. While Nasa’s bulky suits are designed for eight-hour spacewalks outside of the International Space Station, the SpaceX one is for short-duration trips outside.
Ms Gillis said they trained in many different versions of the suit to help determine which one works best.
“Pretty much every single day, we'd walk in and there would be a different suit,” she told the briefing. “It would have a different glove, a different elbow, a different shoulder and there was this constant iteration of suit components with the suit team to test and collect data.”
Nasa astronauts preparing for a spacewalk train in a swimming pool to create a weightless environment, but these SpaceX passengers trained with a suspension system that helped them experience the sensation of floating in microgravity.
The spacewalk is set to be broadcast live on the SpaceX website, at a time yet to be decided.
