JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Early this morning, the company SpaceX performed the first-ever private spacewalk. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports on a risky adventure that went according to plan.
GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: The mission was led by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. He and his three crewmates donned brand-new SpaceX space suits. Then they hooked up white tubes to feed the suits with oxygen.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You're going to hear almost like a (vocalizing) sound. That's...
BRUMFIEL: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: ...Just the air starting to flow into their suits.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Initiating primary O2.
BRUMFIEL: With pure O2 hissing into their suits, it was time to let all the air out of their space capsule, called Dragon.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: The pressure inside Dragon's starting to tick down.
BRUMFIEL: The live webcast had a graphic which showed the pressure dropped to zero. Depressurizing the capsule was the only way to go outside, but it was risky. If something went wrong with one of the suits, there would be nowhere to run. That didn't happen today. The capsule emptied out. The suits were fine, and Isaacman got the go-ahead.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Dragon, you are go to open hatch.
JARED ISAACMAN: Copy that, SpaceX. Go to open hatch.
BRUMFIEL: A camera on his helmet showed the view as he made his way outside.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: I have a feeling the crowd is about to go wild.
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BRUMFIEL: There below was a stunning view of Planet Earth. Isaacman said a few words.
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ISAACMAN: Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.
BRUMFIEL: He spent about 10 minutes outside admiring the view of our perfect world. Then it was SpaceX Engineer Sarah Gillis' turn. She tested her new suit, which seemed to work OK.
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SARAH GILLIS: Yaw is a three, roll is a four, and pitch is a three.
BRUMFIEL: It's a little unclear how good or bad a three is. Either way, this is just a first step for SpaceX. They want to make better suits that astronauts can use to one day go to Mars. With the spacewalks done, the astronauts closed the hatch. Air flowed back into the space capsule, and the crew opened their visors. They were greeted by a weird smell that comes when a spacecraft has been exposed to the emptiness of the final frontier. Mission pilot Scott Poteet took it in.
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SCOTT POTEET: Ooh. Smell that? It's space.
BRUMFIEL: Today's flight shows anyone can smell space - if they've got enough money to buy a rocket ride, that is. The crew is scheduled to return to Earth on Saturday. Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF AYANNA SONG, "GIRLFRIEND") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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