Four private astronauts are back on Earth after a five-day mission that set firsts and broke records in an effort to advance human spaceflight.
Polaris Dawn mission commander Jared Isaacman, pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon splashed down on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft "Resilience" in the Gulf of Mexico, off the southern tip of Florida on Sunday (Sept. 15). Their landing, at approximately 3:37 a.m. EDT (0737 GMT), brought to an end the first of three planned Polaris Program missions all being funded by Isaacman, a 41-year-old billionaire entrepreneur and private jet pilot.
"We are mission complete," radioed Isaacman to SpaceX's mission control soon after splashing down. "Thanks for all the big help pulling this mission together."
