Nasa hailed the mission as “a giant leap forward” for the commercial space industry, marking a key milestone in private space exploration.
LIVE! SpaceX Polaris Dawn Splashdown
First private spacewalk
Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman led the mission alongside two SpaceX engineers and a retired Air Force pilot. The crew travelled higher than anyone has since Nasa’s Apollo moon missions, with their Dragon spacecraft reaching a peak altitude of 875 miles (1,408 kilometers), surpassing both the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope.
The highlight came on Thursday, when Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis performed the first-ever commercial spacewalk. Emerging from the capsule for just under two hours, they briefly tested SpaceX’s new spacesuits. Most of the time, however, was spent depressurising and repressurising the spacecraft due to the lack of an airlock. Isaacman and Gillis became the 264th and 265th individuals to conduct a spacewalk, breaking new ground for non-professional astronauts.
Isaacman radioed, “We are mission complete,” as the capsule bobbed in the Gulf of Mexico, awaiting recovery.
Advancing Space technology for future missions
SpaceX sees this brief but historic spacewalk as a stepping stone toward future, longer missions, including its vision of sending humans to Mars. Nasa described the mission as a significant step for the commercial space sector, noting that SpaceX’s new spacesuit technology is integral to their plans for deep-space exploration.
Isaacman’s Polaris Dawn mission is part of a larger initiative to push the boundaries of private spaceflight. The billionaire, founder of Shift4 Payments, has two more planned Polaris missions, with the next featuring the first manned flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, which is still under development.
Scientific experiments and musical performance in Space
Throughout their time in orbit, the crew conducted over 40 experiments focused on human health in space and inter-satellite communication using SpaceX’s Starlink network. They tested real-time connectivity in space by using Starlink to establish a direct video link to Earth, a demonstration that holds significant promise for future deep-space communications.
In a unique addition to the mission, Gillis, a classically trained violinist, performed “Rey’s Theme” from Star Wars: The Force Awakens while orbiting 435 miles (700 kilometers) above Earth. Her performance was transmitted to Earth via Starlink, and the video was created in partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which Polaris Dawn raised funds for during the mission.
Isaacman’s vision for private spaceflight
This was Isaacman’s second mission with SpaceX, following his 2021 flight, which raised more than $250 million for St. Jude. The Polaris Dawn mission set a new altitude record for human spaceflight since the Apollo era, underscoring the growing capabilities of private space exploration.
During the mission, Isaacman reflected on the view from space, saying, “Back at home, we all have a lot of work to do, but from here — it looks like a perfect world.”