The crew, which launched from Florida on Tuesday, successfully returned to Earth today.
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft from the Polaris Dawn mission safely landed off the coast of Florida on Sunday. Two of its crew members made history on Thursday by completing the first-ever spacewalk conducted by non-professional astronauts, according to AP.
The crew included billionaire Jared Isaacman, retired Air Force fighter pilot Scott Poteet, and two SpaceX employees, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon. They launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:23 AM local time (11:23 AM CET) on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the spacecraft orbited Earth six times, reaching a maximum distance of 1,400 kilometers from the planet—marking the farthest human journey into space since the Apollo mission in 1972.
Both Gillis and Menon became the first women to travel this far from Earth. The mission’s objectives included testing SpaceX’s first vacuum-rated spacesuits, which were worn by the entire crew during their spacewalk. This test serves as a stepping stone for developing spacesuit technology for longer future missions to Mars.
The crew, which trained for over two years for this mission, also tested laser communication between the Dragon spacecraft and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which provide internet connectivity.
In addition, the team conducted around 30 scientific experiments, mainly focused on studying the effects of space travel on the human body.
Polaris Dawn is the first mission in the broader Polaris program, which consists of three planned missions. After the successful conclusion of the first mission on Sunday, the second mission with a similar agenda will follow. The third mission will involve the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, which is currently in development and intended for lunar and Mars missions.
