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SpaceX's 'Polaris Dawn' mission was successfully completed on Sunday in the waters off the coast of Florida, where the Dragon capsule landed safely at 03:37 local time (07:37 GMT) after a controlled descent by four large parachutes, as seen live on SpaceX.
What does the mission consist of?
Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions agreed and negotiated in 2022 between billionaire Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4, and SpaceX. The mission that ended this Sunday was a journey in which the spacecraft entered the Van Allen radiation belts, where many scientific experiments were performed with energetic particles trapped by the Earth's magnetic field.
Last Tuesday, the mission lifted off from Florida, specifically from Cape Canaveral, being a milestone in space history by reaching more than 1,400 kilometers away from Earth and also the farthest manned trip since the historic Apollo missions.
Inside the capsule were SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis and mission commander, billionaire Jared Isaacman, while the other two engers on board were pilot Scott Poteet and SpaceX engineer Anna Menon.
During the mission, 36 research studies and scientific experiments were conducted with 31 other institutions, aimed at improving human health on Earth. In addition, SpaceX's Starlink laser communications system was also tested in space, a significant step forward for future space missions.
What was the landing like?
The Dragon capsule of SpaceX's 'Polaris Dawn' mission landed off the coast of Florida as it completed the first private spacewalk of all time. The spacecraft landed in the Gulf of Mexico, in the area known as Dry Tortugas, hitting the water at 03:37 local time (07:37 GMT) after a controlled descent by four large parachutes. Instantly, a SpaceX team went to the site to retrieve the capsule and the four crew inside.