The crew of Polaris Dawn concluded a record-breaking commercial space flight on Saturday, packing up for re-entry and a pre-dawn landing Sunday morning in the Gulf of Mexico, northwest of Key West, Florida.
The Crew Dragon capsule, carrying billionaire Jared Isaacman, pilot Scott Poteet and company engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, is flying from southwest to northeast and is expected to fire its braking rockets to escape from Earth’s orbit at 2:40 a.m. EDT on Sunday.
Diving back into the observable atmosphere, Crew Dragon’s protective heat shield will endure temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit before the ship slows down enough to deploy its parachutes. Splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico near Dry Tortugas, Florida, is expected around 3:36 a.m.
SpaceX
A SpaceX recovery ship is stationed nearby to recover the capsule and help the crew out of the spacecraft for routine medical checks after landing, followed by a helicopter flight to shore where they can reunite with family and friends.
The Polaris Dawn mission, funded by Isaacman, in partnership with SpaceX, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket early Tuesday morning. The crew immediately set a new altitude record for a manned spacecraft in orbit, reaching an apogee of 875 miles.
That’s farther from Earth than anyone has flown since the last Apollo trip to the moon in 1972.
On Thursday morning, the crew set a new record when Isaacman and Gillis took turns floating just outside the capsule’s hatch. the first non-governmental spacewalk ever performed.
“We all have a lot of work to do back home, but from here Earth looks absolutely perfect,” Isaacman said in amazement as he enjoyed the spectacular view of the boundless planet below him as he floated through the Crew Dragon’s hatch.
The purpose of the short excursions was to test SpaceX-designed pressure suits in the harsh conditions of space, assessing mobility and checking the movement of the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints. This would help engineers design improved versions for future flights to the moon and eventually Mars.
In addition to extensive biomedical research, the crew also tested laser communications technology that connected Crew Dragon to the Starlink network of commercial internet satellites.
“Early this morning, the Polaris Dawn crew spoke with SpaceX teams over coffee and donuts via @Starlink space lasers,” SpaceX placed on X Saturday. “During the 40+ minute continuous video call, Dragon completed a half-orbit of the U.S. East Coast, cutting southeast across the Atlantic Ocean and rounding the Cape of Good Hope.”
Earlier in the mission, Gillis, an accomplished violist, participated in what amounted to an international concert, performing the Star Wars song “Rey’s Theme” by composer John Williams, accompanied by young musicians from the United States, Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, Sweden and Uganda.
The Polaris Dawn mission is the first of three missions that Isaacman, an entrepreneur and philanthropist, is planning in collaboration with Musk.
The second flight will be a Crew Dragon mission, while the third will be the first manned flight of SpaceX’s massive Super Heavy Starship rocket, currently under development in Texas.
It is not known how much Isaacman is paying for the flights or how much SpaceX itself has funded.
Polaris Dawn is SpaceX’s fifth commercial Crew Dragon flight to orbit and the 14th including NASA missions that carry crew members to the International Space Station. The California rocket maker has now launched 54 men and women to orbit since crewed flights began in May 2020.
