The crew of the U.S. Polaris Dawn mission returned to Earth on September 15, conducting the first commercial spacewalk from a commercial spacecraft, according to SpaceX.

SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida's Dry Tortugas, carrying the four-member crew, which comprised tech entrepreneur and commercial astronaut Jared Isaacman, who funded and commanded the operation, two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot.

The spacecraft hit a peak altitude of 1,408 kilometers on September 11, the farthest that humans have traveled since the Apollo moon landing, and it was the highest orbit around Earth ever achieved, besting the record set in 1966 by NASA's Gemini 11 mission, which reached 1,372 kilometers.

The four pulled off the first private spacewalk while orbiting nearly 740 kilometers above Earth on September 12, higher than the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope.

During their spacewalk, Isaacman emerged only up to his waist to briefly test SpaceX's brand new spacesuit, followed by SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis, who was knee-high as she flexed her arms and legs for several minutes, according to AP.

Each took around 10 minutes out in the vacuum of space, spending the spacewalk conducting mobility tests in their newly designed spacesuits.

The crew also conducted a number of studies and experiments to obtain valuable data during their mission, including essential health and human performance research for NASA's Human Research Program.

Although conducting a spacewalk is nothing new, SpaceX demonstrated that it is a task that can be performed by the industrial sector. In doing so, it took a major step toward commercializing those capabilities.

First announced in 2022, Polaris Dawn is the first of three testing and development missions under the Polaris program.