SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew returns to Earth, makes splashdown off Florida coast

SpaceX's Polaris Dawn crew has finally returned to Earth with its four-man civilian crew who also completed a successful spacewalk only three days ago. The capsule successfully touched down off the coast of Florida in the U.S. after spending five days in orbit. According to the BBC,?the Dragon capsule made the splash in Earth's waters somewhere around 08:30 BST. The live-streamed by SpaceX, which also shared the update in a series of tweets on X.?

"Splashdown of Dragon confirmed! Welcome back to Earth," SpaceX wrote on X:

NASA called the mission, paid for by billionaire Jared Isaacman, "a giant leap forward" for the commercial space industry. Accompanying Isaacman on the first commercial spacewalk were Scott Poteet, a retired US Air Force pilot, and SpaceX employees Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis.?

This particular spacewalk came with its own set of risks including a manoeuvre that had Issacman and Sarah exiting the capsule. The BBC reported?that only two other astronauts from space agencies have attempted something like this before.?

What makes this spacewalk stand apart from the others is that?where most astronauts use the airlock to finally step into space, the SpaceX Dragon capsule reportedly opened directly outside.Moreover, the Dragon capsule that has flown 11 crew so far over the course of three such missions was apparently untested for this environment, as were the spacesuits that were used by the crew.

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Lead image credit: SpaceX

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