Tech Billionaire Jared Isaacman Returns to Earth After Completing Historic Private Spacewalk 2024

Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman and his crew successfully returned to Earth on Sunday after completing a groundbreaking five-day space mission that included the first-ever private spacewalk. The crew splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, near Florida’s Dry Tortugas, marking the end of a mission that took them higher than anyone has traveled since NASA’s moon missions.

Isaacman, along with two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot, embarked on this ambitious journey aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule. The capsule reached a peak altitude of 875 miles (1,408 kilometers) above Earth, far exceeding the altitude of both the International Space Station and the Hubble Space Telescope. Their mission, named Polaris Dawn, began with a successful liftoff on Tuesday.

First Private Spacewalk in History

The highlight of the mission came on Thursday when Isaacman and Sarah Gillis, one of the SpaceX engineers, performed the first-ever commercial spacewalk. They conducted the walk while orbiting nearly 460 miles (740 kilometers) above Earth. The brief but historic event saw Isaacman becoming the 264th person to perform a spacewalk, and Gillis the 265th, as they tested SpaceX’s new spacesuit technology.

The Dragon capsule’s hatch was open for just over 30 minutes, during which time Isaacman emerged halfway out of the spacecraft to test the suit, followed by Gillis. The exercise, lasting under two hours, focused on validating the spacesuit for future long-duration missions, including potential missions to Mars.

Splashdown Near Dry Tortugas

For the first time, SpaceX aimed for a splashdown near the Dry Tortugas, a cluster of islands 70 miles (113 kilometers) west of Key West, Florida. SpaceX employees at Mission Control celebrated the occasion by bringing a large, green turtle balloon to headquarters in Hawthorne, California. Normally, SpaceX targets splashdowns closer to Florida’s coast, but poor weather conditions led them to opt for this new location.

A Milestone in Space Exploration

Isaacman’s mission, named Polaris Dawn, is part of a privately funded space exploration program under his Polaris initiative. This is Isaacman’s second privately chartered mission with SpaceX, with two more planned. His first spaceflight in 2021 raised over $250 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the cost of the current mission was shared between Isaacman and SpaceX, though the total amount remains undisclosed.

Isaacman, the CEO of Shift4, has been a major advocate for private space exploration. His missions are setting the stage for future manned expeditions to Mars and beyond, with SpaceX continuing to push the boundaries of private space travel.