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SpaceX Polaris Dawn Astronauts Complete First Commercial Spacewalk

SpaceX Polaris Dawn Astronauts Complete First Commercial Spacewalk

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Jared Isaacman, a 41-year-old fintech billionaire, chartered the Polaris Dawn mission, a commercial spaceflight led by SpaceX. Isaacman and his crew, including Sarah Gillis, 30, conducted a spacewalk, with Gillis performing movement tests to assess the space suit's performance in space. This marks the first commercially funded spacewalk, previously only done by astronauts with government-funded space agencies. The Polaris Dawn mission reached an orbit of 434 miles (700 kilometers) and is part of a five-day trip to a distance further from Earth than any crewed voyage since the Apollo program in 1972.

Tomasso Sgobba
1. This is a mission which violates Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty.
2. It's a well-known issue, which of course has a history.
3. The lack of an independent oversight may have left somewhere an open issue which has not been identified.
4. I believe that article VI does not leave much room to interpretation.
US Federal Aviation Authority
1. The FAA has no regulatory oversight for the activities of the Polaris Dawn mission.
2. Under federal law, the FAA is prohibited from issuing regulations for commercial human spaceflight occupant safety.
Bill Nelson
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
1. Today's success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and NASA's long-term goal to build a vibrant US space economy.
Sean O'Keefe
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
1. The risk is greater than zero, that's for sure, and it's certainly higher than anything that has been accomplished on a commercial basis.
Jared Isaacman
Draken International
1. Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.
2. A huge honour to have that opportunity to test it.
Ram Jakhu
McGill University
1. The treaty is more valid today, and should be valid tomorrow.
2. It means the US government must take into consideration that it, too, should not do the things it does not like other countries doing. That's why this treaty will [continue] to be successful.
3. So a compromise was made for private companies, subject to the permission, authorisation, supervision and responsibility of their respective states, and this is fundamental.
4. If [Article VI] was not adopted, it would have been impossible to have this treaty.
Ian Whittaker
Nottingham Trent University
1. The high cost will mean that only the ultra-rich get to experience this for now but putting this cost in the hands of businesses means that taxpayer money can be used for other purposes.
Simeon Barber
Open University
1. It's really exciting and I think it shows again that SpaceX is not afraid to do things in a different way.