The first billionaire to walk in space only had 'seconds' to enjoy the view
The billionaire who conducted the first private spacewalk said he only had “seconds” to take in the view of Earth while outside the spaceship.
Jared Isaacman, founder and CEO of the payment company Shift4 (FOUR), recently returned from a five-day trip to space on SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission.
Isaacman captained a four-person crew that left the atmosphere so he could conduct the first private spacewalk. While above the clouds, the group also conducted a series of tests and interviews meant to study how humans can function in space.
During the spacewalk, Isaacman was out of the spacecraft for about 10 minutes. He told NPR in an interview that he only had “seconds” to enjoy the view because of how busy he was conducting tests.
“I think we barely finished the three-test matrix before we had to get back in,” he said. “The entire operation was about 90 minutes where you’re breathing 100% oxygen.”
“That’s ultimately the limiting factor. So if we were able to get through all the venting operations and the hatch opening quicker, we would have spent more time outside, but we were out there long enough to get what we need and bring it back,” Isaacman continued.
Isaacman previously noted that the spacewalk was not a particularly “peaceful” experience and compared his journey to explorers trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
“Looking at Earth was obviously very, very special,” Isaacman said in a conversation hosted on Twitter Spaces last week. “But when you look off to the side, you look out into the darkness of space, and you see your spaceship there, and how gritty it looks, it gave you this sense of, like ‘this isn’t going to be easy.’”
