Washington:

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, which made history when its crew conducted the first spacewalk by non-government astronauts, splashed down off the coast of Florida early Sunday.

The Dragon spacecraft landed in the ocean at 3:37 am (0737 GMT), a webcast of the splashdown showed, with a recovery team deploying in the pre-dawn darkness to retrieve the capsule and crew.

The four-member team led by fintech billionaire Jared Isaacman launched Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center, quickly journeying deeper into the cosmos than any humans in the past half century as they ventured into the dangerous Van Allen radiation belt.

Watch the @PolarisProgram‘s Polaris Dawn astronauts return to Earth aboard Dragon → https://t.co/WpSw0gzeT0https://t.co/wC8cUNSBie

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 15, 2024

They hit a peak altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometres) — more than three times higher than the International Space Station and the furthest humans had ever travelled from Earth since the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Then on Thursday, with their Dragon spacecraft’s orbit brought down to 434 miles, Isaacman swung open the hatch and climbed out into the void, gripping a structure called “Skywalker” as a breathtaking view of Earth unfolded before him. 

“SpaceX, back at home we all have a lot of work to do, but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world,” he told mission control in Hawthorne, California, where teams erupted in applause.

He went back inside after a few minutes and was replaced by a second astronaut, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, who, like Isaacman, performed a series of mobility tests on SpaceX’s sleek, next-generation suits.

Since Dragon doesn’t have an airlock, the entire crew were exposed to the vacuum of space. Mission pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon remained strapped in throughout as they monitored vital support systems.

It marked a “giant leap forward” for the commercial space industry, said NASA chief Bill Nelson, as well as another triumphant achievement for SpaceX.

Though the company was only founded in 2002, it has outpaced its legacy competitors thanks in large part to founder Elon Musk’s vast fortune and zeal to begin the colonization of Mars.

Rousing violin solo 

Since completing their extravehicular activity, the crew have continued to carry out roughly 40 science experiments — for example inserting endoscopic cameras through their noses and into their throats to image their airways and better understand the impact of long-duration space missions on human health.

They also demonstrated connectivity with SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellite constellation by sending back to ground control a high-resolution video of Gillis playing “Rey’s Theme” by “Star Wars” composer John Williams, on the violin. 

Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions under the Polaris program, a collaboration between Isaacman and SpaceX.

Financial terms of the partnership remain under wraps but Isaacman, the 41-year-old founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, reportedly poured $200 million of his own money into leading the 2021 all-civilian SpaceX Inspiration4 orbital mission.

The final Polaris mission aims to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship, a prototype next-generation rocket that is key to Musk’s interplanetary ambitions.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

After trekking deeper into space than any humans in the last half-century, a pioneering private crew is set to make history Thursday with the first-ever spacewalk by non-professional astronauts.

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, led by fintech billionaire Jared Isaacman, launched early Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, reaching a peak altitude of 870 miles (1,400 kilometres).

That’s more than three times higher than the International Space Station, in a region of space called the inner Van Allen radiation belt — a zone teeming with dangerous, high-energy particles.

Now, with their Dragon spaceship’s elliptical orbit reduced to a low point of roughly 120 miles and a high of 430 miles, the crew of four is gearing up for the mission’s centrepiece: an audacious extravehicular activity (EVA) scheduled for 0958 GMT on Thursday, with a backup window on Friday.

SpaceX pushed the time back by a few hours early Thursday, without explaining why. It plans a webcast of the event starting about an hour beforehand, on its website. 

‘Bit of a dance’ 

Prior to the hatch opening, the crew will complete a “pre-breathe” process to purge nitrogen from their blood, preventing decompression sickness caused by nitrogen bubbles. The cabin pressure will then be gradually reduced to match that of space.

After it’s opened, Isaacman and crewmate Sarah Gillis, a SpaceX engineer, will take turns peeking out from a structure attached to the hatch dubbed “Skywalker,” equipped with hand and footholds.

“It’ll look like we’re doing a little bit of a dance,” Isaacman quipped during a recent press conference. 

In reality, they’re stress-testing SpaceX’s next-generation suits, which boast heads-up displays, helmet cameras and enhanced joint mobility systems. 

However, they won’t float away on a tether like early spacefarers such as Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov or NASA’s Ed White did in 1965. Instead, they’ll cling to the spacecraft as it orbits Earth at roughly 17,500 mph.

Since the Crew Dragon capsule lacks an airlock, the entire crew will be exposed to the vacuum of space for the duration of the spacewalk, around two hours. After the hatch is closed, the cabin will be repressurized, and oxygen and nitrogen levels will return to normal.

Mission pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon will monitor vital support systems during the activity, while Isaacman and Gillis are expected to each spend about 15 to 20 minutes partially outside the craft.

“The risk is greater than zero, that’s for sure, and it’s certainly higher than anything that has been accomplished on a commercial basis,” former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe told AFP.

“This is another watershed event in the march toward commercialization of space for transportation,” he added, comparing the crewmates to early aviators who paved the way for modern air travel.

First of three Polaris missions 

All four underwent more than two years of training in preparation for the landmark mission, logging hundreds of hours on simulators as well as skydiving, centrifuge training, scuba diving and summiting an Ecuadoran volcano.

Beyond their spacewalk, the crew will test laser-based satellite communications between the spacecraft and the vast Starlink satellite constellation. 

They’ll also carry out 36 scientific experiments, including tests on contact lenses with embedded microelectronics to monitor changes in eye pressure and shape in space.

Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions under the Polaris program, a collaboration between Isaacman and SpaceX.

Financial terms of the partnership remain under wraps, but Isaacman, the 41-year-old founder and CEO of Shift4Payments, reportedly poured $200 million of his fortune into leading the 2021 all-civilian SpaceX Inspiration4 orbital mission.

The final Polaris mission aims to be the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s Starship, a prototype next-generation rocket that is key to founder Elon Musk’s ambitions of colonizing Mars.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)