SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew returns to Earth after historic mission

The SpaceX Polaris Dawn crew returned to Earth on Sunday, ending a historic spaceflight that included the first commercial spacewalk. The Polaris Dawn mission reached the highest altitude of any manned spaceflight in five decades.

The four-member crew splashed down off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida, at 3:37 AM ET on Sunday, CNN reported.

During reentry, the most dangerous part of the mission, the spacecraft's external skin reached temperatures of up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The vessel's Crew Dragon heat shield, located at the bottom of the 13-foot-wide capsule, kept the crew cabin at a comfortable temperature.

After splashdown, the capsule briefly floated on the surface before retrieval. Following final safety checks, the crew disembarked from the capsule and returned to dry land.

The Polaris Dawn crew included mission commander Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of finance company Shift4 Payments. Isaacman's friend and former U.S. Air Force pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet, along with SpaceX operations engineers Anna Menon and Sarah Gillis, rounded out the crew.

The mission began by achieving a record-breaking altitude of 870 miles, the highest Earth orbit attained by humans since the 1966 Gemini 11 mission, which reached 853 miles.

The crew's apogee, the farthest point from Earth, marked the furthest any woman has traveled from the Earth.

The mission's spacewalk, a first for commercial spaceflight, occurred on Thursday after Isaacman opened the capsule's hatch. Isaacman and Gillis exited the capsule for 10 minutes each and carried out tests on their suits' functionality.

The spacewalkers reported no major issues.