SpaceX Polaris Dawn: Amateur astronauts prepare for spacewalk with billionaire Jared Isaacman

Georgina Rannard
Science reporter

This spacewalk is a risky and daring undertaking. SpaceX and the four crew members of the Dragon spacecraft are attempting something no one has done before – a spacewalk without an airlock.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) monitors the Dragon rocket and spacecraft, but once they are in space they are not subject to any regulations.

The only tests they have to pass are those set by SpaceX itself. The crew on board have signed consent forms. NASA has confirmed that it is not involved in the Polaris Dawn mission.

The Dragon capsule has been into space dozens of times, but the spacesuits have not yet been tested and it remains to be seen how the spacecraft will behave when depressurized and exposed to the outer vacuum of space.

However, the safety record of government space research is not perfect.

In 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.

And in 1986, the entire crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger died when the machine broke apart 73 seconds into the flight.