SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has shared a photo of the Polaris Dawn crew after their successful landing in Florida. Historic five-day private space exploration. The tech-billionaire shared the photo on Twitter, in which the crew can be seen wearing space suits, smiling and waving after exiting the helicopter.
“The Polaris crew is home safe and sound,” Musk tweeted.
The Polaris Dawn mission concluded with the successful splashdown of the crew on the Dry Tortugas coast of Florida at 03.37 am local time (around 1.06 am IST) on September 15. The mission saw the crew spend five days in orbit and achieve several milestones, including This is the highest altitude reached by a crewed spacecraft since 1972. This also included the world's first commercial spacewalk.
The crew's landing was broadcast live by SpaceX.
“Dragon splashdown confirmed! Welcome back to Earth,” SpaceX posted on X.
NASA said the mission is a “huge leap” for the commercial space industry.
Polaris Dawn, launched Sept. 10 aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, reached a remarkable altitude of 870 miles (more than 1,400 kilometers), far exceeding previous records.
The crew consisted of civilians, and was financed and led by billionaire-philanthropist Jared Isaacman. He traveled to space further than any human in more than 50 years. The team also included Scott 'Kidd' Poteat, a retired US Air Force pilot, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.
During their five-day mission, the crew conducted nearly 40 scientific experiments in microgravity, primarily focusing on human health and safety in space.
A highlight of the Polaris Dawn mission was a historic spacewalk in which Isaacman and Gillis tested SpaceX's new spacesuits and assessed their mobility and functionality. The two-hour extravehicular activity (EVA) paved the way for future commercial spacewalks and provided critical data on the challenges of working outside a spacecraft.