MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Four astronauts are currently circling the Earth in a capsule from the commercial company SpaceX.
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UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Three, two, one.
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MARTIN: They're about a day away from conducting the first-ever private spacewalk. Before the launch, our co-host A Martínez previewed the mission with NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
So, Jeff, who's on board?
GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Jared Isaacman is the mission commander, and also the money behind this flight, although he won't tell us exactly how much he paid for it. Now, he's a wealthy internet entrepreneur who has been very into space travel for years. His pilot is Scott Poteet, an ex-Air Force pilot, who's worked with Isaacman in the private sector, and then there are two Space X engineers, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. Now, if I was funding a privately funded spacewalk, I'd want to be mission commander, too. It has to go hand in hand. All right, so how is this going to work?
BRUMFIEL: The mission is going to start out with everyone inside this SpaceX Dragon capsule. So this is a little space capsule, like we've seen astronauts taking to and from the space station for years. But when the time comes, they're going to put on SpaceX space suits, and then purge all the air out of the capsule and open the hatch. Isaacman and Gillis will each climb out and take a look at Planet Earth. Then after about 15, 20 minutes each, they'll seal the hatch, refill the capsule with oxygen, and that'll be that, the first private spacewalk.
MARTÍNEZ: Wow. It sounds like it could be risky, what would be some of the dangers?
BRUMFIEL: Yeah, spacewalks actually are one of the riskiest things and one of the most difficult things astronauts can do. You have to think about space suits as tiny little spaceships and the problem is they don't have a lot of air inside. So if something goes wrong, it can go wrong really badly. Also, they're just really hard to move around. I know it feels like you should just be able to float around in space. But it turns out it's more like going to work inside a giant overinflated party balloon. I spoke to Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, and he says, you're constantly fighting your suit.
LUCA PARMITANO: At one point doing the spacewalk, you're going to be tired. You're going to be hot. You're going to be cold. Your hands are going to hurt.
BRUMFIEL: Because just like squeezing your gloves takes lots of work. And all that exertion can cause problems as well. In fact, one early astronaut came back to Earth 13 pounds lighter after he sweat so profusely inside his space suit, that he actually had to end his spacewalk early. Now finally on top of all that, there's space debris, there's suit malfunctions. And there's the fact that none of these four have done a spacewalk before. This is going to be a first.
MARTÍNEZ: So given all that and given all that risk, why is mission commander Jared Isaacman doing this?
BRUMFIEL: Isaacman really loves his fast toys. He flies fighter jets He actually went to space once before in SpaceX capsule in 2021, though that time he did not get out. I'm not sure I've heard him say this, but Luca Parmitano says he knows why someone would want to do a spacewalk, and it comes down to the view. It's unlike anything he's ever seen. He's done six spacewalks and it never gets old.
PARMITANO: It's almost as if time stops for a second or maybe it's your heart that stops for a second. It's just - it's incredibly beautiful. Our planet is so beautiful, and it's right there.
BRUMFIEL: For its part, SpaceX is hoping that the technology in these spacesuits can someday be used on missions beyond our planet to the moon or maybe even to Mars.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR science correspondent, Geoff Brumfiel, thanks.
BRUMFIEL: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "STARMAN")
DAVID BOWIE: (Singing) There's a starman waiting in the sky. He'd like to come and meet us, but he... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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