SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn astronauts splash down to end historic spacewalk mission | Space

Polaris Dawn has landed.

The historic SpaceX astronaut mission — which conducted the first-ever private spacewalk, among other achievements —returned to Earth today (Sept. 15), splashing down safely in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida at 3:36 a.m. EDT (0736 GMT).

“Polaris Dawn we are mission complete. Thanks for all the big help pulling this mission together,” said mission commander Jared Isaacman after the crew splashed down in the ocean.

The reentry was seen by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. “We actually had a pretty neat view of Polaris Dawn entering. All of us were more or less crowded in the cupola watching it,” said NASA astronaut Mike Barratt, according to CBS’ William Harwood. “That was pretty spectacular for us.”

A landmark private flight

Polaris Dawn was funded, organized and commanded by billionaire tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. He did the same for SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission in September 2021, the first-ever all-private crewed flight to Earth orbit.

There wasn’t supposed to be such a long wait for his second flight: Polaris Dawn had originally been scheduled to launch in 2022, but it was pushed back repeatedly due to the…