Billionaire spacewalker Jared Isaacman and his crew returned to Earth on Sunday after a five-day trip that took them higher than anyone since NASA’s moonwalkers. The crew splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s Dry Tortugas, becoming the first private spacewalkers to orbit nearly 740 kilometers above Earth. Isaacman and Sarah Gillis performed the first private spacewalk, with Isaacman becoming the 264th person to walk in space. The crew emerged from the capsule pumping their fists with joy.
The Dragon capsule hit a peak altitude of 1,408 kilometers, with Isaacman aiming to test spacesuit technology for future missions to Mars. The mission, named Polaris Dawn, was the second chartered flight with SpaceX for Isaacman, who shared the cost with the company. This mission follows his first spaceflight in 2021, where he raised over 240 million euros for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The crew also celebrated with a performance by Gillis, a classically trained violinist, earlier in the week.
SpaceX employees brought a big, green turtle balloon to Mission Control to celebrate the first splashdown near the Dry Tortugas. The brief spacewalk lasted less than two hours and was seen as a starting point for testing spacesuit technology for longer missions. Isaacman’s space exploration program, named Polaris after the North Star, still has two more flights ahead, with the first two being personally financed. The cost of the mission has not been disclosed by Isaacman.
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