Polaris Dawn, history-making space mission, splashes down off Florida coast: 'Welcome back to Earth'

Polaris Dawn slashesdown off coast of Florida

Polaris Dawn crew splashed down off the coast of Florida early Sunday morning, part of a history-making mission with SpaceX. The mission tested space suits, internet capability, and a deep-space spacewalk.

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico in the pre-dawn hours Sunday morning after a five-day mission that included the first-ever private spacewalk.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying Mission Commander Jared Isaacman, Mission Pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon splashed down off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida, at 3:37 a.m. ET Sunday.

Historic Polaris Dawn mission

Four civilians on SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission were exposed to the vacuum of space and completed the first-ever private spacewalk on Thursday while zooming at more than 17,500 mph above Earth.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Crew Dragon spacecraft last Tuesday morning carrying Isaacman, Poteet, Gillis and Menon from NASA's Kennedy Space Center launchpad 39A.

Two days into the spaceflight, the crew was busy conducting research and outreach from the Dragon capsule. The most significant milestone of the mission happened on Thursday when the Polaris Dawn crew donned their Microgravity spacesuits and opened the hatch of the Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX teams on Earth and the four-person crew began depressurizing the Dragon spacecraft Thursday around 6 a.m. ET, and the hatch opened about an hour later.

Thursday's spacewalk marked a series of firsts for SpaceX and human spaceflight. The extravehicular activity was the first time four people were exposed to the vacuum of space simultaneously and the first outside a commercial vehicle with an all-private crew.

Spacewalks outside the International Space Station are a two-person event. Even though only Isaacman and Gillis left the Dragon hatch, all four needed to wear extravehicular mobility units, or EMUs, because the spacewalk happened while the spacecraft was flying independently in low-Earth orbit.

While outside the Dragon, both crews completed mobility tests of the new SpaceX EMU suits and testing of the Starlink internet communication system. Isaacman and Gillis did not stray far from the hatch, using a structure outside the Dragon called the "Skywalker" to hold onto the spacecraft.

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An hour after the spacewalk started, all private astronauts were back in the capsule, and SpaceX completed leak checks after the hatch closed.

"SpaceX, back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world," Isaacman said after the spacewalk.

Earlier in the spaceflight, the Polaris Dawn mission achieved another historic milestone, flying in an orbit nearly 870 miles above Earth, marking the farthest humans have been from Earth since Apollo 17.

Polaris Dawn was part of a series of private spaceflights funded by Isaacman, an American businessman and founder of Shift4Payment. This was Isaacman's second spaceflight. In 2021, he funded and flew on a SpaceX spaceflight known as Inspiration4 with three other private astronauts.