American businessman and billionaire Jared Isaacman became the first non-professional astronaut to walk in space on Thursday.
The 41-year-old funded the Polaris Dawn mission that took him and three others into space aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
With an estimated net worth of $1.9bn (£1.46bn), Mr Isaacman made his fortune from payments processing firm Shift4 Payments, which he founded in 1999 when he was just 16.
The businessman has long had a passion for flying, first taking flying lessons in 2004 and later setting a world record for flying around the world in a light jet.
“Back home, we all have a lot of work to do,” said the entrepreneur, who stepped into space for the first time on Thursday.
“But from here, Earth looks like a perfect world.”
SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis also performed a spacewalk after Isaacman returned.
Polaris Dawn isn’t his first space mission. In 2021, he funded and commanded the first private, all-civilian crew to orbit Earth.
That crew — named Inspiration4 — left Florida on a SpaceX spacecraft and spent three days in space before successfully landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
Time magazine estimates that Mr Isaacman paid billionaire Elon Musk $200m (£153m) for all four seats on the SpaceX spacecraft.
“It’s been a great ride for us,” Mr Isaacman said over the radio shortly after landing at the time. “We’re just getting started.”
Born in Union, New Jersey, Isaacman founded his successful company Shift4 Payments from his parents’ basement, Forbes reported.
The company now processes payments for a third of all restaurants and hotels in the United States, including big names like Hilton, Four Seasons, KFC and Arby’s.
He also founded Draken International in 2011, a defense company that trains Air Force pilots and owns the world’s largest private military fleet.
In 2019, Mr. Isaacman sold a majority stake in Draken to Blackstone, a Wall Street firm, for a nine-figure sum, Forbes reported.
The magazine called him a “thrill-seeker” in a 2020 article, reporting that for fun, Isaacman “shoots MiGs faster than the speed of sound and climbs mountains to unwind after grueling, 80-plus hour workweeks.”
His brother, Michael Isaacman, told Forbes that the businessman “is a strong believer that we all have a limited life, so let’s do the best we can while we’re alive.”
Mr. Isaacman and others aboard the Polaris Dawn are expected to return Saturday.
