Billionaire takes part in first ever commercial spacewalk

Businessman Jared Isaacman, 41, stepped out of his capsule while hundreds of miles from Earth

- Andrew Griffin

A billionaire floated in space in the first ever private spacewalk yesterday – a major milestone for space tourism, and for SpaceX, which aims to make humanity an “interplanetary” species.

Businessman Jared Isaacman, 41, stepped out of his capsule while hundreds of miles from Earth, attached to a tether and watched on a live feed. “Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do,” he said as he left through the freshly opened hatch, the world visible beneath him. “But from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.”

Until now, spacewalks – which are more formally known as extra-vehicular activities, or EVAs – have only been conducted by professional astronauts. Mr Isaacman financed his private flight through a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which follows a similar deal that saw him undertake the first ever fully commercial spaceflight in 2021.