SpaceX's Polaris Dawn successfully lands, the first civilian space mission in history
The capsule carrying Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon touched down early Sunday morning after five days in space.
SpaceX's Polaris Dawn space mission
Five days after launch, SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission splashed down Sunday off the coast of Florida. It is the first time in history that non-astronaut civilians have performed a spacewalk on a private flight.
Elon Musk's company live streamed the entire journey, from the time the Dragon capsule went into orbit until splashdown. It was carrying billionaire Jared Isaacman, SpaceX engineers Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon, and retired Air Force pilot Scott Poteet.
As soon as it touched down at around 3:37 a.m., SpaceX deployed a team to recover the spacecraft and the four crew members. Throughout the trip, the company has been in constant contact with the spacecraft.
The mission objectives were met. The four crew members were able to visit the Earth's radiation belts on the first commercial journey into space in history, as well as the highest orbital altitude reached by humans since the Apollo moon landing in 1972, taking them 870 miles above the Earth's surface.
Polaris Dawn is the first of three missions in the Polaris program, a collaboration between Isaacman and SpaceX, AFP reported.
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