A billionaire space explorer and his crew returned safely to Earth on Sunday, concluding a five-day journey that took them higher than any human has traveled since NASA’s moon missions.
The SpaceX capsule made a predawn splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near the Dry Tortugas, Florida, carrying tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers, and a former U.S. Air Force Thunderbird pilot.
During their mission, the crew completed the first-ever private spacewalk while orbiting 460 miles (740 kilometers) above Earth, higher than both the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope. Their spacecraft reached a peak altitude of 875 miles (1,408 kilometers) following their Tuesday launch.
Isaacman became the 264th person to conduct a spacewalk, and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis followed as the 265th. Until now, only professional astronauts had performed spacewalks, making this mission a significant milestone.
“We are mission complete,” Isaacman radioed as the capsule bobbed in the water, waiting for the recovery team. Within an hour, all four crew members emerged from the capsule, cheering and celebrating their successful return.
This marked the first time SpaceX targeted the Dry Tortugas for a splashdown, a group of islands 70 miles (113 kilometers) west of Key West. To commemorate the occasion, SpaceX staff at Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, brought a large, green turtle balloon. Typically, SpaceX aims for locations closer to the Florida coast, but poor weather forecasts prompted the shift in landing site.
During Thursday’s spacewalk, the Dragon capsule’s hatch was opened for just over half an hour. Isaacman emerged up to his waist to briefly test SpaceX’s new spacesuit, followed by Gillis, who stepped out to her knees and tested the suit’s mobility. Earlier in the week, Gillis, a classically trained violinist, performed a musical piece while in orbit.
The spacewalk lasted less than two hours, much shorter than those conducted on the International Space Station, as most of the time was spent depressurizing and repressurizing the capsule. The remaining two crew members, SpaceX’s Anna Menon and Scott “Kidd” Poteet, stayed strapped in, fully suited.
SpaceX views this brief spacewalk as a crucial step in testing new spacesuit technology for longer missions, including future trips to Mars.
This mission, dubbed Polaris Dawn, was Isaacman’s second chartered flight with SpaceX. He has two more planned as part of his personally funded Polaris space exploration program, named after the North Star. Isaacman, founder and CEO of Shift4, a credit card processing company, funded his first flight in 2021, taking contest winners and a pediatric cancer survivor while raising over $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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For this Polaris Dawn mission, Isaacman shared costs with SpaceX, though he has not disclosed the exact amount spent.
