Jared Isaacman, a 41-year-old billionaire from New Jersey, made history by becoming the first private individual to complete a spacewalk. This achievement is part of Isaacman’s ambitious Polaris program, which aims to advance space technology and pave the way for future space travel. The spacewalk took place miles above Earth.
Isaacman, the CEO of Shift4 Payments, partnered with SpaceX for the mission, called Polaris Dawn. This mission is the first of three in the privately funded Polaris program. During the spacewalk, Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis tested new spacesuits developed by SpaceX. The mission comes after Isaacman’s previous venture in 2021, when he led SpaceX's first private spaceflight.
Spacewalks are rare, with only 263 people from 12 countries having completed one before Isaacman. This spacewalk marks a major milestone in private space exploration, with Isaacman following in the footsteps of spacewalk pioneers Ed White and Alexei Leonov from 1965.
Isaacman’s journey into space comes after a successful career as an entrepreneur. In 1999, at age 16, he founded Shift4 Payments in his parents’ basement. The company now processes payments for about a third of restaurants and hotels in the US. Isaacman also founded Draken International, which provides military aircraft for the US Air Force.
Forbes estimates Isaacman’s net worth at $1.9 billion. Despite his wealth, Isaacman has kept quiet about the costs of his space missions, including Polaris Dawn.
