A tech billionaire made history on Thursday by conducting the first private spacewalk several hundred miles above Earth, a feat traditionally reserved for professional astronauts.
Jared Isaacman, a 41-year-old entrepreneur from New Jersey, collaborated with SpaceX to evaluate the company’s new spacesuits during his chartered flight. Following Isaacman’s safe return inside, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis also ventured out for a spacewalk.
Isaacman, who is the CEO and founder of Shift4, a credit card-processing firm, has not revealed the amount he invested in this flight, which is part of a three-mission program he calls Polaris. This mission, named Polaris Dawn, follows SpaceX’s first private flight in 2021, which included contest winners and a cancer survivor.
Prior to this event, only 263 individuals from 12 countries had completed a spacewalk, a record that began in 1965 with Alexei Leonov from the Soviet Union, followed shortly by NASA’s Ed White.
Isaacman’s journey in aviation began with flying lessons in 2004, and he set a world record for circumnavigating the globe five years later. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in professional aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2011 and is a married father of two daughters.
In 1999, at just 16 years old, Isaacman founded Shift4 in his parents’ basement, which now processes payments for about one-third of America’s restaurants and hotels. The company went public in June 2020, with Isaacman owning 38% of the stock.
Additionally, he launched Draken International in 2011, a defense firm known for having the largest private military aircraft fleet globally and for training Air Force pilots. He later sold a majority stake for a significant profit, according to Forbes, which estimates his net worth at about $1.9 billion.