Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis Lead the Mission:-
Our top story this hour because in the last couple of hours 700 kilm above our heads history has been made with a team of privately funded astronauts making the first commercial space Walk This Is The Moment the team on the SpaceX Polaris Dawn Mission started to move out of the capsule they were effectively testing.
Out a new design and new techniques while paying for the privilege courtesy of billionaire Tech entrepreneur Jared isaacman who is the mission commander and indeed the first person out of the capsule.
Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis Lead the Mission:-
Jared isaacman and also Sarah Gillis a SpaceX engineer uh the team of four there are four on board the capsule are now waiting while it repr pressurizes remember there was no airlock here on this craft the whole craft had to depressurize uh to allow the pressure inside to become equal with that of the space around them to match the pressure of that space and now it has to be repressurized so that is the process.
Non-Professional Astronauts: A New Era in Space Exploration:-
We’re seeing the four astronauts go through at the moment and of course just a reminder they’re not professional astronauts that’s one of the many new aspects of what we’ve seen taking place today on this historic mission and I’m joined now I’m pleased to say by Libby Jackson who is the head of space exploration at the UK space agency .
Libby great to have you with us on such a significant day a day of many firsts many many firsts uh it is fantastic to see that this commercial space sector in low earth orbit is taking these steps because it is the transition from a a government funded Enterprise which we’ve seen over the last 50 60 years uh to a place where there are new opportunities new investors new funding coming in and the opportunities that that will bring for technology uh for new materials things .
Why NASA Isn’t Leading This Mission:-
Like new Pharmaceuticals will ultimately benefit everybody back on Earth one question people might have is why isn’t NASA for example doing this why is a commercial Enterprise doing this well it’s been the goal of space agencies around the world including NASA including the UK space agency to see this transition take place so SpaceX have contracts with NASA uh for parts of NASA’s work uh they Ferry crew and cargo to and from the International Space Station .
They will be uh Landing uh astronauts on the moon in the coming years but this was something that SpaceX have developed uh and that technology development independently uh is is all part of spacex’s plan and that will benefit NASA as well because we’ll see that uh space technology potentially feed into future government funded missions as well and of course this is all part of The Wider future exploration of space that’s what lies behind missions.
The Risks of a Spacewalk and Safety Measures:-
Like this how dangerous though how risky was it for the four everything uh thankfully seems to have gone very well so far it’s been really good to see the Hatchery pressurization and and The Space Walk coming to an end because it was the first time this has ever been done um and a space walk is always a risky part of any Mission along with the launch and the landing those are the three parts where there is the most racist astronauts but any anybody undertaking this SpaceX .
In this case always uh go to Great Lengths to make sure that the safety of the crew is Paramount that spacecraft will have been tested the space suits will have been tested and and it does look like everything’s gone well but to have uh all four uh astronauts exposed to space all of them were in these these pressure suits uh all of them were in that vacuum of space that’s not been done really since the Gemini uh missions right back in the 1960s.
When we were learning how to to live and work in space and so it’s really good to see that this uh Space Walk appears to have bu gone successfully and the crew are safely back in their capsules yes talk to us a little bit more Libby about these new space suits being used for the first time outside a spacecraft um much less bulky than what people are used to seeing of course and we saw Jared isman and Sarah Gillis you know moving their their arms around a lot .
Innovative Space Suits: Lighter and More Flexible:-
I guess to show to test that flexibility yeah one of the reasons they’re much less bulky compared to what people might be used to seeing on the International Space Station is that they don’t have a big backpack on board astronauts who are carrying out space walks on the ISS are completely in their own spacecraft they’re Tethered to the spacecraft through cables.
Space Suits of the Future: From SpaceX to the Moon:-
But all the oxygen all the cooling everything they need to keep them alive is contained within the spacex and these space suits that we’ve seen today have an umbilical they have a cable feeding the oxygen feeding all the power everything that they need so they were permanently connected to their spacecraft but still the new technology has enabled better joints thinner materials there’s been a heads up display inside those helmets allowing .
The crew to see better the status of their space suit and all of these technology developments are great because we haven’t seen new space suits developed for decades there are now new space suits being developed not just by SpaceX here but also uh looking forward we will have to have new space suits for landing on the moon uh for the lunar Gateway and so yeah technology pushing forward improving space suits benefits everybody in space but we’ll see the technology also filter through into applications on earth into similar places.
Live Space Images: Always Captivating:-
That’s great so we’re continuing Libby as as we chat to watch these live pictures I always find it incredible I never Tire of something like this you know seeing these live pictures from space coming to us and alongside Jared isman and Sarah Gillis who I’ve already mentioned uh we have Scott petite who’s the mission pilot a retired US Air Force Lieutenant leftenant and Anna Menon also a SpaceX senior engineer they’re the other two members of the crew and it’s interesting to observe that at the moment Libby there are more people in space than ever before.
The Economic Potential of Low Earth Orbit:-
Since the history of of space exploration began it is fantastic it it’s wonderful to see we we’ve got the crew on the International Space Station who have just been joined I think yesterday uh by the the new crew launching in the Sawyers so there are nine there uh there are the four uh on board Polaris Dawn and there are the three tyen knuts on the Chinese space station it’s a sign of of what is happening in low earth orbit slowly but surely this is opening up new opportunities um there will be commercial opportunities there we will see new areas of economy develop .
A Busy Future for Space Exploration:-
We know that if uh we develop new materials in space where where you don’t feel the effects of gravity we can make um things like semiconductors things like Pharmaceuticals that have different properties uh that can be more energy efficient that will potentially treat uh cancer in different ways these are the sorts of developments that we will see as low earth orbit becomes more commercial it’s one of the reasons the UK space agency is working with aam space uh to a potentially fully commercially funded mission in the future we have to find uh new ways of bringing in new investment new ways of