Billionaire Spacewalker Returns To Earth After Historic Private Spacewalk

A billionaire spacewalker and his crew safely returned to Earth on Sunday, ending a five-day mission that set new records for private space travel. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule touched down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s Dry Tortugas in the early morning hours, marking the completion of a pioneering journey.

Jared Isaacman, a tech entrepreneur, along with two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot, embarked on this historic mission, reaching altitudes higher than any human since NASA’s moon landings. The spacecraft achieved a peak altitude of 875 miles, surpassing the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope.

During the mission, Isaacman, who became the 264th person to perform a spacewalk, and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, the 265th, conducted the first private spacewalk in history. The spacewalk, which lasted less than two hours, involved testing SpaceX’s new spacesuit technology. Isaacman and Gillis performed brief activities outside the capsule, while the remaining crew stayed inside, also wearing spacesuits.

SpaceX views this mission as a crucial step toward future long-duration space exploration, including potential missions to Mars. Isaacman’s Polaris Dawn mission, which followed his previous spaceflight in 2021, is part of his broader space exploration program funded personally and in collaboration with SpaceX. He has not disclosed the cost of this recent mission.