The first commercially developed spacesuit used for an extravehicular activity in space — designed and built by SpaceX for the Polaris Dawn mission. Features umbilical-based life support, an integrated heads-up display visor, and a novel spiral-zipper pressure garment evolved from the Crew Dragon IVA suit.
SpaceX's EVA suit made history on 12 September 2024 when mission commander Jared Isaacman and mission specialist Sarah Gillis performed the first commercial spacewalk during the Polaris Dawn mission aboard Crew Dragon "Resilience" at an altitude of approximately 700 km — higher than any human had been since the Apollo programme.
Unlike traditional EVA suits that rely on a bulky Personal Life Support System (PLSS) backpack, SpaceX's design uses an umbilical connection to the spacecraft for oxygen, power and cooling — similar to the approach used during the earliest spacewalks in the Gemini programme. This dramatically reduces the suit's mass and complexity at the cost of limiting the astronaut's range to the length of the tether.
The suit evolved directly from SpaceX's existing IVA (Intravehicular Activity) suit worn during Crew Dragon launches and re-entries. Key enhancements include a new textile-based outer layer with integrated mobility joints, a heads-up display (HUD) in the visor showing suit telemetry, and thermal management for the vacuum of space.
A critical design consideration: since Crew Dragon lacks an airlock, the entire cabin must be depressurised for an EVA. This means all four crew members must wear EVA-capable suits, even if only two exit the vehicle. SpaceX developed the suit with this constraint in mind, making it functional for both IVA and EVA operations.
The Polaris Dawn EVA on 12 September 2024 lasted approximately 1 hour 46 minutes from cabin depressurisation to repressurisation. Commander Jared Isaacman exited Crew Dragon first through the forward hatch, performing a series of mobility tests on the "Skywalker" EVA structure attached to the vehicle. Mission specialist Sarah Gillis followed with her own test programme.
The EVA was conducted at an orbit of approximately 700 km — significantly higher than the International Space Station (400 km) — exposing the suits to higher radiation levels and more extreme thermal cycling. SpaceX used the mission to gather data on suit performance, mobility, thermal management and communications quality.
Both crew members remained connected to Dragon by umbilicals providing oxygen, power and data. The remaining crew (Kidd Poteet and Anna Menon) monitored from inside the cabin in their own EVA suits, as the entire capsule was exposed to vacuum.