MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Polaris Dawn mission completed successfully

Isaacman and Gillis performed consecutive spacewalks Poteet and Menon remained inside the capsule

The mission behind the first-ever spacewalk performed by a non-professional astronaut was completed Sunday when the Dragon capsule of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission splashed down off the coast of Florida.

The crew of engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, pilot Scott Poteet, and mission captain Jared Isaacman -the billionaire entrepreneur who funded the expedition- was promptly retrieved and subjected to a medical checkup onboard a ship before being taken to the mainland by helicopter.

SpaceX and the Polaris Dawn crew have completed the first commercial spacewalk!

“SpaceX, back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world.” — Mission Commander @rookisaacman during Dragon egress and seeing our planet from ~738 km pic.twitter.com/lRczSv5i4k

— Polaris (@PolarisProgram) September 12, 2024

The spacecraft lifted off Tuesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida to reach an altitude of 1,400 kilometers, more than three times the orbital distance of the International Space Station (ISS) and farther from Earth than any other since the Apollo lunar missions. However, the orbit was lowered to about 700 km for the spacewalk, where Isaacman ventured with help from a structure known as the “Skywalker.” He then returned to the capsule and Gillis took her turn. Crewmates Poteet and Menon remained inside the vehicle.

The mission also performed a number of scientific experiments while testing SpaceX's next-generation spacesuits as well as Starlink's transmission capabilities. Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions in the Polaris joint program between Isaacman and SpaceX.

The four crew members had more than two years of intensive training that included hundreds of hours in simulators, as well as skydiving, scuba diving, and practice on top of a volcano in Ecuador. It was Isaacman's second space mission after the one in 2021.

The Polaris Program assesses spacesuits and life-support technologies “to expand the boundaries of future human spaceflight missions, in-space communications, and scientific research.” Issacman hopes the third flight will feature a SpaceX Starship vehicle instead of a Crew Dragon capsule. According to Elon Musk's company, the Starship is still in its early stages but the ultimate target is to send humans to the moon and Mars.