Because it was nighttime in the area, Polaris Dawn, which SpaceX was operating on billionaire Jared Isaacman’s behalf, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s Dry Tortugas at 8:37 a.m. (UK time) today.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket went into space on Tuesday, carrying four private individuals, including engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis. The crew of the rocket spent five days in orbit.
The capsule bobbed in the ocean, waiting for the recovery team to arrive. “We are mission complete,” radioed Isaacman.
Mission Commander Mr. Isaacman joined a select group of spacewalkers—he was the 264th—who had up to now solely consisted of professionals—while in orbit around the earth.
Tagged as a “very dangerous mission,” the SpaceX Polaris Dawn spacewalk orbited about 460 miles (740 km) above Earth, higher than both the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station.
At the age of 16, Mr. Isaacman founded the payment processor Shift4 Payments, which is currently valued at over $1.9 billion (£1.45 billion).
This was his second SpaceX contracted mission; two more are planned as part of his privately funded space exploration program, which he named Polaris (after the North Star).
He launched a paediatric cancer survivor and contest winners into orbit in 2021, paying an undisclosed sum in the process, generating millions of dollars for Memphis, Tennessee’s St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
