the first commercial "space walk" is imminent: this billionaire who started his own business at the age of 15 may become the "first person to try it"
2024-09-10
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according to xinhua news agency, the dragon spacecraft of spacex was launched on the 10th, carrying out the space mission code-named "polaris dawn", carrying four american amateur astronauts to space. during this mission, the "commercial aerospace team" also plans to conduct the first commercial spacewalk by humans.
it is reported that the four crew members on board the spacecraft are kidd poteet, sarah gillis, anna menon and jared isaacman. two of the four will wear extravehicular activity space suits designed by spacex and conduct the first commercial spacewalk at an altitude of about 700 kilometers from the ground. among them, the most eye-catching is american billionaire jared isaacman.
once upon a time, only professional astronauts could go into space. later, some super-rich people were able to go into space by paying tens of millions of dollars to buy seats on commercial spacecraft. isaacman "went a step further" - he "chartered" a spacex spacecraft to go into space in 2021, creating the history of the first "civilian astronaut" orbital flight. now, he has raised funds to participate in spacex's "polaris dawn" mission, starting his second space journey and planning to achieve the first "civilian astronaut" spacewalk.
▲isaacman wearing a spacex spacesuit
he once led three "civilian tourists" into space
now they are going to attempt the first commercial spacewalk
in september 2021, isaacman led a space mission, called inspiration 4, which completed the first orbital flight without professional astronauts on board. the four crew members of the mission included isaacman, as well as engineers, medical assistants and science education experts. they were aboard a specially modified dragon spacecraft from spacex and sent into orbit by the company's falcon 9 rocket.
isaacman did not bring his friends with him, but recruited three companions. among them, asino, a physician assistant at st. jude children's research hospital in the united states, underwent surgery for bone cancer when she was 10 years old, replaced her knee, and implanted a titanium alloy artificial bone in her left thigh bone. as a result, she became the first person to wear a prosthesis to go into space. the other two crew members were simbrowski, a data engineer from leverett, washington, and proctor, a community college teacher from tempe, arizona. both of them won seats on the spacecraft through a lottery.
▲2021, isaacman (left) and asino
the four of them said they were enthusiasts of flying and space exploration, and they received six months of training and eventually stayed in space for three days. in a group of papers published in the journal nature in june this year, it was reported that in september 2021, four people who had been away from earth for three days experienced physical and mental changes in space, including a slight decrease in cognitive test scores, immune system tension, and genetic changes in cells; after landing on earth, almost all changes in their bodies returned to normal.
after returning to earth, asino continued to work as a physician assistant at st. jude children's research hospital, working 12 hours a day. proctor continued to be a professor at a community college. cembrosky went to work as an engineer at bezos' rocket company, blue origin. as for isaacman, his space career is not over yet. he will go into space again on the spacex dragon spacecraft and plans to attempt the first commercial spacewalk.
started a business in the basement at the age of 15
seize business opportunities and become a giant in the payment industry
isaacman, founder and ceo of shift4pay, an american payment service provider, likes to say that everyone has an "effective fatigue life," which he calls an air force term for the number of flight hours a fighter jet has left before it reaches the end of its useful life and needs to be retired. but isaacman believes that the concept is a metaphor for "how to live" and that "your flight time is limited."
isaacman seemed to be making good use of his time. he started out as an entrepreneur at age 15, creating web pages for local small businesses in his basement. he was so successful at his job that before long a manufacturer of credit card reader equipment hired him as an it consultant.
he took the job without hesitation, dropped out of high school a year later, and was peddling credit card terminals in his parents' basement. at his parents' insistence, he took remedial testing and earned his ged.
▲in 2002, isaacman (second from right) and his company employees
while immersed in the world of electronic payments, he quickly realized a business opportunity: the payment process involves a lot of paperwork, especially for the restaurant industry. in the 1990s, a small restaurant in the united states wanted to implement credit card payments, which required weeks of work and countless procedures. isaacman took advantage of this business opportunity and developed a new payment processing software based on the experience he gained in his first job (and a $10,000 loan from his father).
isaacman said it was not easy to convince the first batch of customers to adopt the product developed under simple conditions, but once the initial difficulties were overcome, his product was quickly welcomed by banks, hotels and restaurants. isaacman recalled that he did not reveal his real age during the entire entrepreneurial process. at the age of 19, he paid off his grandfather's loan, and his payment company began to expand in many states in the united states. later customers included hilton hotel group, well-known pizza chains and fried chicken chains.
developed a passion for aviation at age 25
won the u.s. military pilot training outsourcing contract
for years, isaacman was known for his 16-hour workdays, until he decided to pursue his passion: aviation, at age 25.
at first, he just flew propeller planes, but within two years, he wanted to fly further, so he put in hundreds of hours of flying time and started flying jets. in 2009, at the age of 26, he completed the fastest around the world flight in a light jet on his second attempt, breaking his own previous record of 61 hours and 51 minutes.
isaacman soon discovered that civilians could fly military aircraft if they had enough flight time and met the faa's qualifications, so he began learning how to fly fighter jets. in 2010, isaacman's "increasingly extreme hobby" turned into a part-time job, as he joined a performance team to perform aerial stunts for events.
moreover, isaacman observed that the us military began to cut costs due to the financial crisis, so he came up with a new business - providing training services for military pilots.
he bought obsolete fighters at a discount, brought in low-paid retired pilots, and founded draken. soon, isaacman had more than 100 fighters, more than many countries' armaments, and established a pilot training camp at a base near las vegas. after cost analysis, the us air force decided to outsource his training services.
with that background, it might not be surprising that isaacman’s next step in life would be space.
red star news reporter deng shuyi compiled cctv news (cctv reporter zhang yingzhe), xinhua news agency, etc.
editor guo yu editor li binbin
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