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Spacewalking goes commercial in Polaris Dawn: What it means for the privatization of space travel

caption: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of four lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (John Raoux/AP)
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a crew of four lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (John Raoux/AP)

Once the domain of the government, space is the new playground for private entrepreneurs hoping to launch their own missions. On Thursday, two astronauts ventured farther into space than anyone has gone since the 1970s.

The Polaris Dawn mission, as it is known, is the world’s first commercial spacewalk and was funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman in collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. It’s another big milestone for the private entrepreneurs jostling to get into the business of space travel.

We hear more about that business from Mike Regan, senior editor at Bloomberg.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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