WATCH: SpaceX Conducts First Commercial Spacewalk In History - 'Earth Sure Looks Like A Perfect World'

On Thursday, billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman conducted the first commercial spacewalk after stepping outside of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn capsule to conduct various tests of his spacesuit hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface. The spacewalk, which lasted only a few minutes, was a historic moment for the commercial space industry, which Elon Musk's SpaceX is spearheading in its mission to reach Mars in the near future.

"Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world," Isaacman said as he looked down on Earth. The goal of the Polaris mission spacewalk, which began at 6:12 a.m. EST, was to test the spacesuits in the vacuum of space to improve them for an eventual Mars mission. After Isaacman's spacewalk, another crewmember and SpaceX engineer, Sarah Gillis, conducted the same tests outside the module.

"Today's success represents a giant leap forward for the commercial space industry and NASA's long-term goal to build a vibrant U.S. space economy," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson wrote. The governmental space agency played almost no role in the mission, demonstrating the shift from space exploration being the refuge of solely governmental bodies to commercial industries.

According to The New York Times, the spacewalk began about three hours late but was able to begin when oxygen filled the four crew members' spacesuits. The Polaris capsule lacks an airlock, so the entire vehicle was open to the vacuum of space when Isaacman turned a hand crank to open the outside hatch. While Isaacman and Gillis conducted their tests, the other crew members, Scott Poteet and Anna Menon, remained in the airless vehicle. 

After the spacesuit tests were complete, Gillis reentered the spacecraft, closed the hatch, and the vehicle began to repressurize less than two hours after the spacewalk began.

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