Watch Live as Billionaire Boards SpaceX Capsule Attempts First Commercial Spacewalk

Four private astronauts prepare to brave low Earth orbit, open a hatch and launch a crew capsule from space before two crew members attempt the first human spacewalk.

The Polaris Dawn mission launched Tuesday at 5:23 a.m. ET aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After spending nearly two days in orbit, the two astronauts will step out for an overland mission outside the Dragon spacecraft in brand new spacesuits. The orbital stunt has never been attempted by a private team, and could pave the way for long journeys into space.

The spacewalk is scheduled for Thursday at 2:23 a.m. ET, and will be streamed live on the SpaceX website and on the company’s X account.

A crew of four, led by tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, rode into space aboard the Dragon spacecraft, which landed higher than any other SpaceX crew capsule. On Wednesday, Dragon reached an orbit of 870 kilometers (1,400 miles), during which it made six orbits of the Earth, breaking the record held by NASA’s Gemini 11 mission; the Gemini spacecraft orbited Earth at an altitude of 853 miles (1,373 km) in 1966.

After reaching apogee, Dragon fired four times to lower itself into an orbit of 118 miles by 461 (190 by 742 kilometers) to prepare for a spacewalk, SpaceX wrote in X. On Thursday, the capsule of the Dragon crew will reduce its altitude to 430 kilometers. (700 km) above the earth for the most anticipated event.

Two team members will jump out of the Dragon spacecraft into the void. However, it won’t be just 50% of the crew preparing for space travel. Since the Dragon capsule does not have an airlock, the entire spacecraft must be pressurized and exposed to a vacuum to prepare the astronauts involved to depressurize the cabin. That means all crews will wear their space suits to survive long periods of work above ground.

SpaceX has designed new space suits for this event. In May, SpaceX introduced brand new spacesuits, an improved design of the company’s suits currently worn by astronauts aboard Dragon, with additional features to support extraterrestrial missions. Isaacman was introduced alongside retired Air Force pilot Scott Poteet, and SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. It is not yet clear which two will go into space, but the entire crew has been training for two years in preparation for the mission.

Besides the extravehicular adventure, the Polaris Dawn crew will perform more than 30 scientific experiments in orbit. The research of these machines mainly concerns the health of the astronauts and the preparation of the crew for long-duration missions. NASA sent a series of probes and crews, including a device that collects vitals like blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature. Upon arrival, the crew will also provide NASA with data on motion sickness, mental and physical health, and injuries or discomfort during the reentry.

Given the altitude reached by Dragon, the Polaris Dawn crew flew into the Van Allen radiation belts, a region of high-energy particles that begin about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) above Earth. This area is considered one of the main hazards for future crewed trips to Mars as the trapped particles of the radiation belts circle the Earth like a giant donut, according to NASA. One of the missions of this mission is to test the effects of regional radiation on the health of astronauts.

Polaris Dawn will also be the first to test SpaceX’s Starlink laser-based communication in space, which uses lasers to transmit data between satellites at the speed of light. The company hopes to develop technology that will aid in communication systems for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

After completing a list of tasks in orbit, the crew is scheduled to disperse to the Florida coast, possibly this coming Saturday. The Polaris Dawn is the first of three independents purchased by Isaacman. Depending on how this goes, the next two will look equally exciting.

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