CAPE CANAVERAL, SEPT 15: A billionaire spacewalker and his crew returned to Earth on Sunday after completing a historic five-day mission that took them farther into space than anyone has traveled since NASA’s moon missions.
Jared Isaacman, a tech entrepreneur, led the crew aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s Dry Tortugas in the early morning darkness. Accompanying him were two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot. This mission marked the first-ever private spacewalk.
The crew orbited nearly 460 miles (740 kilometers) above Earth, higher than both the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope. At its peak, the spacecraft reached an altitude of 875 miles (1,408 kilometers), following their launch on Tuesday.
Isaacman, now the 264th person to conduct a spacewalk, briefly tested SpaceX’s new spacesuit during the mission, followed by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, who became the 265th person to perform a spacewalk. Until this mission, all spacewalks had been performed by professional astronauts.
During Thursday’s spacewalk, the Dragon capsule’s hatch was open for only half an hour. Isaacman emerged up to his waist, while Gillis, a classically trained violinist, performed a brief spacewalk, flexing her arms and legs for several minutes. The entire walk lasted less than two hours, primarily spent depressurizing and repressurizing the cabin.
This mission, called Polaris Dawn, is part of Isaacman’s privately funded space exploration program, Polaris, named after the North Star. This is Isaacman’s second chartered flight with SpaceX, with two more missions planned in the future. His first flight, in 2021, raised over $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. For this mission, Isaacman shared the cost with SpaceX but did not disclose the total amount spent. (AP) GRS
