SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn crew has returned to Earth after spending five days in orbit, marking a historic mission that featured the world’s first commercial spacewalk.
The Dragon capsule made its splashdown off the coast of Florida just after 03:37 local time (07:37 GMT), an event streamed live by SpaceX. “Splashdown of Dragon confirmed! Welcome back to Earth,” SpaceX announced on X, formerly known as Twitter.
NASA described the mission as “a giant leap forward” for the commercial space industry. As the spacecraft re-entered Earth’s atmosphere, it endured temperatures of up to 1,900°C (3,500°F) due to the intense pressure and friction while traveling at around 7,000 mph (27,000 kph).
The four-member civilian crew, financed and led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, traveled further into space than any humans have for more than fifty years. The crew included Scott Poteet, a retired US Air Force pilot, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
Isaacman and Gillis became the first non-professional crew members to perform a spacewalk, a complex maneuver that involves depressurizing the crew compartment and exiting the spacecraft. Prior to this, only astronauts from government-funded space agencies had performed such a feat.
During the live broadcast, viewers saw Isaacman and Gillis emerge from the white Dragon capsule and float 435 miles (700 km) above Earth. “Back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here — looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman said to mission control in Hawthorne, California during the spacewalk.
Since the Dragon capsule lacks an airlock, the crew was exposed to the vacuum of space during their spacewalk. The mission’s high-altitude spacewalk was made possible by innovative astronaut suits equipped with new technology.
Over the five days, the crew conducted over 40 experiments, including studies on the effects of space missions on human health and testing intersatellite laser communication between the Dragon spacecraft and SpaceX’s Starlink satellite.
Gillis, a trained violinist, brought her instrument along and performed “Rey’s Theme” from *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* while in space. Her performance was broadcast back to Earth via SpaceX’s Starlink, showcasing the satellite network’s potential for in-space connectivity. This video was produced in collaboration with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which the Polaris Program was fundraising for during the mission.
The crew spent a total of five days in orbit aboard the Dragon spacecraft, named Resilience, which launched early on Tuesday morning from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission achieved a historic milestone by reaching a maximum altitude of 1,400 km (870 miles), surpassing any human flight since the last Apollo mission in 1972.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three planned Polaris missions, a partnership between Jared Isaacman and SpaceX. Future missions include the inaugural manned flight of the new SpaceX rocket, Starship, which is currently under development.
