The SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Dry Tortugas, off the Florida coast, just before dawn. The crew included Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers, and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot.
In brief: Jared Isaacman, a tech entrepreneur, and his SpaceX crew returned to Earth following a five-day mission that marked the first private spacewalk, reaching a higher altitude than any mission since NASA’s lunar landings.
Jared Isaacman and his crew successfully returned to Earth on Sunday, wrapping up a mission that saw them travel higher than any space travelers since NASA’s Apollo program. The SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Dry Tortugas, off the Florida coast, just before dawn. The crew included Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers, and a former Air Force Thunderbirds pilot.
During the mission, the team conducted the first-ever private spacewalk, reaching an altitude of 740 kilometers—higher than both the MSP Međunarodna svemirska postaja (International Space Station) and the Svemirski teleskop Hubble. At its peak, the spacecraft soared to an altitude of 1,408 kilometers, setting a new record for commercial spaceflight.
Isaacman’s spacewalk made him the 264th person to venture outside a spacecraft, while SpaceX’s Sarah Gillis followed as the 265th. Until now, only professional astronauts had performed such operations.
“Mission complete,” Isaacman radioed to the SpaceX team as the capsule gently bobbed on the water, awaiting recovery.
Testing New Frontiers in Space Travel
This mission, named Polaris Dawn, is part of Isaacman’s privately funded space exploration program, designed to push the boundaries of commercial space missions. The crew conducted a spacewalk to test SpaceX’s new spacesuit technology, critical for future longer missions.
Although the spacewalk lasted less than two hours, much shorter than those on the MSP, it provided essential data for future endeavors. The capsule’s hatch was opened briefly, and Isaacman emerged waist-high to test the new suit. Following him, Gillis performed a few mobility exercises while standing up to her knees.
Gillis, a talented violinist, even held a live performance in space earlier in the mission, adding a unique cultural element to the scientific journey.
A New Era of Private Space Exploration
This was Isaacman’s second mission with SpaceX, and two more are planned under his Polaris program. His first mission, Inspiration4, took place in 2021 and included contest winners as well as a pediatric cancer survivor. That mission raised over $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
For Polaris Dawn, Isaacman shared the costs with SpaceX, though the exact financial details remain undisclosed. As these missions pave the way for private space exploration, SpaceX is eyeing the future, with ambitions for missions to Mars on the horizon.
