“The only thing that comes close to that is the vacuum chamber.”

Ghost Ride

As billionaire Jared Isaacman prepares for the world’s first-ever civilian spacewalk, he’s got some pretty morose things to say about the feat he’s soon to attempt. In an interview with CNBC, the second-time space tourist said that when he embarks on his “extravehicular activities” (or EVA for short) during his forthcoming Polaris Dawn mission on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, he’s well aware that he will be “surrounded by death.”

In fact, Isaacman said that he and his three-person crew have been training extensively for years to handle that scary scenario that’s hurtling toward them as they approach the August 26 launch date of their groundbreaking flight, which is slated to be the first of three.

“The only thing that comes close to that [sensation] is the vacuum chamber,” he told CNBC, “and that’s where you’re pretty much feeling as close as it’s like to be in the vacuum conditions or space.”

“That definitely gives you the actual sensations of the pressure changes and the temperature changes,” Isaacman continued, “as well as just the psychological stressors of being in a very harsh environment.”

If you think that’s a pretty freaky statement for someone who’s dropping untold hundreds of millions of dollars to do a civilian spacewalk, you’re not wrong — and he’s in good company in that regard.

Don’t Go Softly

Citing his own private trek into low-Earth orbit in 2021, William Shatner’s 2022 memoir included an excerpt in which the nonagenarian star said that instead of being inspired when he looked back at the globe on his Blue Origin capsule, he was filled with dread.

“When I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold,” the “Star Trek” icon wrote in his memoir, titled “Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder.”

“All I saw was death,” he continued.

While Isaacman is unlikely to take quite that glum a tone — not least because Shatner ended up using that emotional experience to segue into an environmentalist invective that seems unlikely for an e-payments billionaire who moonlights as a fighter jet pilot — it’s still interesting that he’s already echoing the “Star Trek” actor ahead of his second space flight.

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