The crew of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission is preparing to return to Earth on Sunday, after completing the first private spacewalk in history this week.
The Dragon ship is scheduled to land off the coast of Florida at 3:36 a.m. local time with its four passengers on board.
The capsule will be slowed in its dizzying descent by parachutes, then recovered by a SpaceX ship after splashdown.
All major objectives of the mission, which marks a new milestone in commercial space exploration, have been achieved.
It was led by and with the financial support of American billionaire Jared Isaacman, head of the financial company Shift4. Also on board: two engineers from SpaceX, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, as well as a former member of the American Air Force, Scott Poteet.
All had taken off from Florida on Tuesday and on the first day, their ship ventured up to 1,400 kilometers in altitude, further than any crew since the Apollo lunar missions, more than half a century ago.
Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon have become the two women who have traveled the furthest from Earth.
Then on Thursday came the event: the first spacewalk by civilians, a risky operation previously reserved for professional astronauts.
Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis each ventured out of the spacecraft for about ten minutes, which was at an altitude of 700 kilometers, still much higher than the International Space Station (ISS).
“We have a lot of work at home, but from here the Earth really does look like a perfect world,” said the 41-year-old billionaire, as impressive views of the blue planet were broadcast live.
The two adventurers performed movements to test their white and gray suits — the first from SpaceX intended for spacewalks.
Developing and testing these suits, which the company hopes to one day produce in the “millions” to colonize Mars, was a major goal of the trip.
“Giant step”
NASA CEO Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on Thursday, calling the event “a giant step forward for the commercial space industry.”
The crew, which trained for more than two years for the mission, also tested laser communication between the ship and SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which provide internet from space.
He finally carried out around thirty scientific experiments, notably intended to study the impact of space travel on the human body.
This is the second time that Jared Isaacman has flown aboard a SpaceX orbital mission, following a less ambitious first one that he chartered in 2021.
The businessman defends the need for private investment to accelerate the technological developments necessary for the goal he shares with SpaceX: making humanity a multiplanetary species.
Polaris Dawn is launching the Polaris program, which it announced two and a half years ago.
The program is to include three missions in total. After a second similar to the one that is ending, the third is to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket, currently in development and intended for trips to the Moon and Mars.