Tech billionaire returns to Earth after first private spacewalk

The Polaris Dawn crew, aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule, successfully returned to Earth on Sunday after a groundbreaking five-day mission. The mission, featuring the world’s first commercial spacewalk, concluded with a splashdown off Florida’s coast and was streamed live by SpaceX.

Nasa lauded the Polaris Dawn mission as "a giant leap forward" for the commercial space industry. On Thursday, tech billionaire Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis conducted the first-ever commercial spacewalk. They tested SpaceX's new spacesuits, with the spacewalk lasting just under two hours, despite the capsule's lack of an airlock.

The Polaris Dawn mission achieved a peak altitude of 875 miles (1,408 kilometers), surpassing the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope. This altitude is the highest reached since NASA’s Apollo moon missions, setting a new benchmark for private spaceflight.

The Polaris Dawn mission is part of a larger initiative by Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments, to push private spaceflight boundaries. Two more Polaris missions are planned, including the first manned flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, currently under development. SpaceX views the brief spacewalk as a key step toward future missions, including plans to send humans to Mars

During the mission, the crew conducted over 40 experiments focusing on human health in space and inter-satellite communication. They used SpaceX's Starlink network to test real-time space connectivity, demonstrating potential for future deep-space communications. Classically trained violinist and crew member Sarah Gillis performed “Rey’s Theme” from Star Wars: The Force Awakens while orbiting 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Earth. The performance, transmitted via Starlink, was part of the mission’s unique contributions.

The Polaris Dawn mission included a fundraising effort for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The mission's video and musical performance, created in partnership with St. Jude, helped raise awareness and funds for the hospital's important work.

Reflecting on the mission, Jared Isaacman remarked, “Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here — it looks like a perfect world.” His second SpaceX mission set a new altitude record and underscored the growing capabilities of private space exploration.