Opinion
Mint Quick Edit | SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn spacewalk: A big leap for spacefarers?
Summary
- Billionaire Jared Isaacson floated about in a space-suit some 700km above the planet, along with SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis. This mission wasn’t only about a joyride to the great beyond, but it’s a move closer to a market opening up for space tourism. How will the economics of it shape up?
Think of firsts. Like Neil Armstrong on the Moon or Yuri Gagarin in space. Add the first commercial spacewalk to that list, which took place on Thursday as part of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission. Is a new market for space tourism beginning to open up?
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The company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft took a crew of four individuals to the great beyond, led by commander Jared Isaacman, the billionaire chief executive of Shift4Payments who also partly financed the trip.
Like SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, Isaacman exited the craft at an altitude of around 700km and floated about in a spacesuit seen as an innovation in its own right.
Also read: Future of space travel: Get set for a holiday in zero gravity
Owned and run by Elon Musk, SpaceX also had some of its Starlink sat-com equipment to test, so this wasn’t exactly a joyride. But a private hop into space marks a major moment for private spacefaring as well as a market that has been on the horizon for years.
For the most adventurous of travellers, space beckons as a truly novel experience.
Also read: Life beyond Earth: NASA moves ahead to find a new place for humans to live in solar system
It will clearly be a top-end service at first, just for the very wealthy. Whether this market can go beyond a global elite, as Virgin Galactic once promised, now mainly depends on whether the economics of it works out. Don’t bet on it.
