Early on Thursday morning, SpaceX accomplished a historic first for a company: its first spacewalk.

Two members of the crew, Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, successfully exited SpaceX’s Dragon capsule “Resilience” during the private Polaris Dawn mission’s grand finale. This is the first spacewalk carried out by private citizens as opposed to government astronauts.

Commander and mission donor Issacman remarked, “Back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world,”  He declared this after exiting the spacecraft.

SpaceX views the spacewalk—also referred to as extravehicular activity, or EVA—as a critical step in achieving its mission of launching humans into space.

In collaboration with Isaacman, the millionaire inventor of Shift4 payments, SpaceX spent over two years creating space suits that can shield astronauts from the harsh atmosphere of space. Gillis, the mission specialist, and Anna Menon, the medical officer, are the first corporate employees to fly on a mission.

After the spacecraft’s hatch opened, the entire four-person crew was exposed to space vacuum for around two hours during the Polaris Dawn event. For around seven minutes each, Isaacman and Gillis were outside the capsule testing the spacesuits’ maneuverability.

Tuesday saw the mission’s launch by SpaceX. In addition to the spacewalk, Polaris Dawn is conducting approximately 40 science and research experiments, raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and reaching an orbit of more than 1,400 kilometers from Earth, the furthest humans have traveled in space since the Apollo program.

Isaacman, who led the Inspiration4 trip to orbit for the first time in 2021, stated that he is spearheading the Polaris Program to push the envelope of private spaceflight.

“This is the inspiration side of it … anything that’s different than what we’ve seen over the last 20 or 30 years is what gets people excited, thinking: ‘Well, if this is what I’m seeing today, I wonder what tomorrow’s going to look like or a year after,’” Isaacman stated before to the expedition.

NASA on Monday authorized the launch to Jupiter’s moon Europa for the next month after assessing the spacecraft’s resilience to the high radiation levels there.

Transistors on the Europa Clipper spacecraft were questioned earlier this year due to identical issues that appeared elsewhere. NASA raced to test the electrical components to make sure they could withstand the $5 billion mission to find out if the water beneath Europa’s frozen surface is a viable place for life, given the short launch window.

October 10th is still the planned launch date for a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The spacecraft must swing past Mars and then Earth for gravitational assistance; NASA has three weeks to launch the craft before pausing for over a year to await another proper planetary alignment.

According to project manager Jordan Evans, when Europa Clipper is subjected to the highest radiation levels during its 49 moon flybys, the transistors, which are found in circuits throughout the spacecraft, are anticipated to deteriorate. However, Evans of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory stated that they ought to recuperate in the three weeks that elapse between each meeting.

Teams from labs around the nation arrived at that decision after four months of nonstop testing.

“high confidence we can complete the original mission for exploring Europa as planned,” Evans stated on behalf of the project. “We are ready for Jupiter.”

Europa Clipper’s journey to Jupiter, where it will circle the gas giant every three weeks, will take six years. Numerous flybys of Europa at a distance of up to 16 miles (25 kilometers) are scheduled, enabling the mapping of almost the whole moon with cameras and other sensors, such as ice-penetrating radar.

With its solar panels extended, Europa Clipper is the largest spacecraft NASA has ever constructed to explore a planet, measuring over 100 feet (30 meters).

Boeing’s problematic Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to start its return to Earth on Friday evening, leaving behind the two NASA astronauts it carried to the International Space Station three months ago.

It will crash onto White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico six hours after it undocks from the station. In the event of inclement weather or technical difficulties, Starliner’s return is scheduled for September 10, September 14, or September 18.

NASA officials said that despite extensive investigation and ground testing, they were still unsure of the exact source of the propulsion system issues that Starliner encountered in June as it neared the space station.

Officials from NASA and Boeing have stated that they anticipate the empty Starliner’s return journey to be uneventful. Furthermore, they insist that the two NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose stays on the space station have been extended, could have most likely still been returned safely by the spacecraft.

During a press conference on Wednesday, NASA’s manager of the commercial crew program, Steve Stich, stated, “We have confidence in the vehicle.” He mentioned that Starliner had made a successful landing on unmanned test flights in the past.

“We’ve had two good landings with Starliner so far, and we’re expecting another one Friday,” Mr. Stich stated.

Nevertheless, persistent anxiety prompted managers to choose for what they saw as the safer course of action: keeping Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore aboard the space station for an additional five months, and having them return in February aboard the Crew Dragon, a spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rival company.

NASA’s Dana Weigel, program manager for the space station, stated that both Ms. Williams and Mr. Wilmore had trained for a lengthier assignment that involved using the robotic arm and conducting spacewalks.

According to Ms. Weigel, “We had them well prepared to move into this role.”

Starliner will use its thrusters to retreat after undocking and then pass above the space station. The move was modified from what the astronauts would have performed if they had been on board. Mr. Stich remarked, “It’s a quicker way away from station, way less stress on the thrusters.”

The deviation makes use of brief thruster pulses, which are less likely to result in the heating that is thought to have decreased the 28 tiny thrusters’ June performance. Helium leaks occurred as well; helium is an inert gas that is utilized to propellant. However, it still contains a lot more helium than is required for the journey back.

The main movement involves the spaceship losing orbit due to the larger thrusters firing. The spacecraft’s smaller thrusters—including the ones that failed during docking—are responsible for maintaining its heading.

Although the smaller thrusters are a backup for taking the spaceship out of orbit in case the larger thrusters malfunction, the larger thrusters have not experienced any issues thus far.

What will happen to the Starliner program after the landing is still up in the air. The mission in June, which was the first to carry astronauts, was meant to be the last in NASA’s certification procedure before Starliner could start making yearly flights to the space station.

NASA may ask Boeing to do an additional crewed flight test. After nearly instantaneous mechanical issues with Starliner’s first launch in December 2019, the business decided to repeat a crewless flight test.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated last month at a press conference that Kelly Ortberg, the company’s new CEO, had given him assurances that Boeing will carry on its Starliner project.

But Boeing would have to pay a heavy price for it. Boeing inked a $4.2 billion contract with NASA in 2014. The contract stipulated preset sums for reaching benchmarks such as certification, and the business is not paid until it satisfies those requirements. In contrast to many conventional so-called cost-plus contracts, the agreement with the government requires Boeing to bear the cost of overruns and delays.

Boeing has already deducted $1.6 billion from its Starliner program expenses.