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They are doing some final cabin leak checks now.

Fun(ish) fact: Polaris Dawn’s spacewalk is happening at the same time a record 19 astronauts orbit Earth, after Russia’s Soyuz rocket ferried two cosmonauts and a US astronaut to the International Space Station.

This website constantly tracks how many humans are in space.

Many readers asking where the toilet in the capsule is.

There is a waste disposal system but I’m sorry to say there is only one big room.

The capsule is now being repressurised. If you are watching the video you can see the pressure level in the bottom left corner. That needs to rise to about 8 psi.

That was momentarily worrying. The SpaceX ground operations just asked if the door handle had been “stowed in the ‘do not stow’” position.

Gillis confirms it has not.

Another reader has emailed:

A billionaire’s head popping out if a hatch for a few minutes doesn’t exactly qualify as a spacewalk now does it?

Technically, these are called EVAs (extravehicular activities) but widely known as spacewalks. Nobody ever really “walks” as they are in a microgravity situation.

Gillis is currently 550 km above the earth and moving at 26,000 kph.

He is now doing a “hands free” demonstration.

(Reminder for those who are panicking: he is tethered)

Isaacman is now conducting movement tests on the slimmed-down SpaceX suit.

For comparison, here is the Nasa spacesuit:

And the SpaceX one:

The video feed shows a helmet camera view through the open hatch. The crew are ready to move out.

The ground crew has asked commander Jared Isaacman to open the hatch manually.

This is tense. He has his hands on the capsule door. Waiting to open.

It is now “unlatched” but not yet open.

The hatch is being opened…

The capsule is currently approaching Africa. It won’t be there long as it is orbiting (spinning around the globe at 27,000 kph).

You can track it here: https://www.spacex.com/follow-dragon

The emails from readers are now coming in to my inbox. The below is an example of a regular theme with SpaceX launches:

“Seated in the comfort of your home couch watching the first non-astronauts getting ready for a spacewalk 450 km above earth. On the flip side, we can manage this but can’t provide safe drinking water to half of humanity.”

My colleague points out that the elbows of the new SpaceX suit looks like a “tumble drier pipe”.

There is no airlock in the capsule. In a few moments, it will be completely depressurised and the whole crew – including the two who will remain inside – will rely on spacesuits for oxygen.

Isaacman and Gillis will exit but be tethered via what is call an “umbilical”. These are 12 feet long and provide air and cooling, plus as a SpaceX commentator just said, to make sure “they are not gonna go floating off into space”.

If you have any questions or comments, you can email me at oliver.holmes@theguardian.com

We can now hear a hissing. This is normal as the spacesuits are being pressurised with so the crew can do an air leak check before opening the door.

So why is this a big deal?

Many reasons but here are three big ones:

• This would be a major milestone for efforts by private companies (such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Boeing and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin) to take on the role that has so far been the sole domain of government agencies. Only well-funded state-run agencies, such as Nasa and Russia’s Roscosmos, have so far managed to carry out spacewalks.

• The crew are also testing slimmed-down spacesuits designed by SpaceX (which look very sci-fi).

Essentially, this mission is a proof of concept that will lead to easier and cheaper access to space.

We have images from inside the capsule. The crew are in their suits and Isaacman is floating around.

If you’re watching the video feed, you’ll have heard that the crew is “initiating seat rotation”. (Non space nerd translation: they are moving the furniture so they can move around easily)