Jared Isaacman did not do a spacewalk in space he was a SEVA know what it means

Polaris Dawn Mission: History was created on Thursday in space 700 kilometers above the Earth. For the first time, a private commercial ‘Stand-Up Extravehicular Activity’ (SEVA) was carried out. In most of the news, it is being called a spacewalk, but it is not so. The term used in space science for spacewalk is EVA (Extravehicular Activity), while the attempt made on Thursday was a ‘Stand-Up Extravehicular Activity’. There is a difference between the two, let’s know it.

What is Polaris Dawn Mission?

After several months of delay, the Polaris Dawn mission was launched on September 10. Its purpose was to complete a private commercial spacewalk in space. Four people participated in the mission. Its funding and command is with Jared Isaacman. He is a billionaire businessman. Lieutenant Colonel Scott Poteet played the role of pilot. Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, who are operations engineers at SpaceX, participated as mission specialists.

EVA vs SEVA

EVA i.e. Extravehicular Activity means that an astronaut left his spacecraft in space. He came out of it completely and returned to the spacecraft after completing his work. During this, he walks in space outside the spacecraft. During EVA, works like maintenance of satellite are usually completed.

In comparison, in ‘Stand-up Extravehicular Activity’ i.e. SEVA, the astronaut does not completely come out of the spacecraft. Some part of his body remains attached to the spacecraft. This is what happened in the Polaris Dawn mission. Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis did not completely leave the spacecraft.

Space.com’s report also states that during the private commercial spacewalk, both the astronauts did not walk outside the spacecraft. They were in a stand-up position. Interestingly, this was the 20th Stand-Up Extravehicular Activity (SEVA) in the history of space. The difference between EVA and SEVA was first seen in 1966, when the Gemini spacecraft reached space. Then NASA astronaut Michael Collins took his body out of the spacecraft and took some pictures.

SEVA was repeated once again on Thursday. During this time Isaacman and Gillis never completely left the Dragon capsule. They kept at least some part of their body inside at all times. SEVA was also done before this mission in the year 2008. Two Chinese astronauts came out of the spacecraft slightly to wave their country’s national flag. Anyway, SEVA of Polaris Dawn mission lasted about 1 hour 46 minutes.