Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first non-professional astronaut to conduct a spacewalk during the groundbreaking Polaris Dawn mission. “Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman remarked as he ventured into the vastness of space for the first time.
Launching on Tuesday, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is carrying Isaacman and three other private citizens on a mission that will last up to five days in orbit. Isaacman, who financed this ambitious endeavor, is leading the second privately-crewed mission from SpaceX, the aerospace company established by Elon Musk.
The crew’s spacecraft, named Resilience, is set to reach an orbit that will ascend to an astonishing 870 miles (1,400 km) above the Earth’s surface. This remarkable altitude marks the highest any human has traveled since the conclusion of NASA’s Apollo program in the 1970s, pushing the boundaries of private space exploration.
