大象传媒

Mission success: Watch the first ever spacewalk by an amateur astronaut

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WATCH: Helmet footage from Jared Isaacman's groundbreaking spacewalk (from SpaceX)

The Polaris Dawn SpaceX mission has made history, with one of its crew members - who isn't a professional astronaut - completing the first ever amateur spacewalk.

Jared Isaacman, a billionaire who has funded and led the mission, popped out of the spacecraft to 'walk' in space.

He was followed out of the craft by engineer and mission specialist Sarah Gillis, who used to work as a violinist!

Despite it being the first time in space for most of the crew, the 大象传媒's science correspondent Pallab Ghosh said that the team "carried out their mission like pros".

Image source, SpaceX
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"It sure looks like a perfect world": The SpaceX team cheered and clapped as Isaacman stepped into space

The Polaris Dawn crew were aiming to test SpaceX's newly developed Extravehicular Activity (EVA) spacesuits, which were customised by a costume designer who's worked on some big superhero films.

Even though only two of the crew actually went out into space to perform a spacewalk, all of the team had to be suited up in their brand new EVA gear.

This is because the spacecraft's hatch had to remain open during the spacewalk, exposing all four crew members to the vacuum of space.

This was all part of the mission, and after the spacewalks, SpaceX reported that everything went to plan and all the people on board were safe and sound.

Image source, NASA
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The brand new EVA spacesuits that were tested have a futuristic look, designed by Jose Fernandez, who has worked on comic book films like Captain America: Civil War and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Polaris Dawn is run by Elon Musk's company SpaceX, who are a business, rather than a government agency like Nasa.

This means Polaris Dawn is the first commercial and privately-funded space mission to have completed a spacewalk.

Speaking to the 大象传媒 and reacting to the live events, the Open University's Dr Simeon Barber said that the success of the mission makes SpaceX "a real force to be reckoned with".

There are still two days left of the five-day Polaris Dawn mission, where it will remain 430 miles (700km) in orbit before returning to Earth.