The Dragon capsule landed off the coast of Florida shortly after 03:37 local time (07:37 GMT), in a live broadcast.

“Splashdown of Dragon confirmed! Welcome back to Earth,” SpaceX said on social media platform X.
US space agency NASA said the mission represented “a giant leap forward” for the commercial space industry.

Returning to Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft approached temperatures of 1,900 degrees Celsius (3,500 degrees Fahrenheit), caused by the intense pressure and friction of thrusting through the air at about 7,000 mph (27,000 km/h).

The four-member political group, funded and led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, it has traveled further into space than any other human in the last 50 years.

The crew also included Scott Poteet, a retired US Air Force pilot, and SpaceX employees Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon.

Mr. Isaacman and Ms. Gillis are the first non-professional crew to perform a spacewalk, a dangerous maneuver that involves depressurizing the crew compartment and exiting the spacecraft.

Only astronauts from government-sponsored space agencies had attempted the feat before this flight.

Images broadcast live showed the two crew members exiting the white Dragon capsule to float 435 miles (700 kilometers) above the blue Earth below.

Violin in space

According to the BBC, Gillis, a passenger, went into space with her violin and performed “Rey’s Theme” from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” along with orchestras on Earth.

Its performance was sent back to Earth using SpaceX’s Starlink as a test of the satellite network’s ability to provide connectivity in space.

The video was created in collaboration with St. Mary’s Children’s Research Hospital. Jude, for which Project Polaris raised money throughout the mission.

The crew had been in orbit aboard the Dragon spacecraft, named Resilience, for a total of five days, launching early Tuesday morning from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mission made history by reaching a maximum altitude of 1,400 km (870 miles), which is higher than any human has flown since the final Apollo mission in 1972.