The Polaris Dawn space mission has ended.

Crew members of Elon Musk's SpaceX Dragon capsule have completed the first privately funded spacewalk in history.

Five days later, the historic spaceflight of the Polaris Dawn mission ended Sunday. Live video of the water landing showed Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon capsule touching down off the Florida coast early in the morning. A team immediately scrambled to pick up the capsule and the four crew members who had previously completed the first privately funded spacewalk in history.

The capsule was lifted out of the water and onto the recovery ship about a half-hour after landing. After brief medical checks, SpaceX engineer Anna Menon was the first to emerge from the capsule, followed by engineer Sarah Gillis, pilot Scott Poteet and commander Jared Isaacman. The four were then scheduled to be flown to shore by helicopter.

Up to 1400 km from Earth

The four-person crew, led by American billionaire Isaacman, blasted into space on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral and at times traveled as far as 1,400 kilometers (970 miles) from Earth — the farthest an astronaut has traveled since the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and 1970s and three times as far as the International Space Station (ISS).

Two crew members left the capsule on Thursday for a few minutes of outdoor spacewalks, the first amateur astronauts without a government contract. The goal was to test the high-tech spacesuits developed by SpaceX. “It’s pretty cool,” said Isaacman, 41, as he held onto a metal structure called Skywalker on the outside of the capsule as Earth passed beneath him.

NASA chief sees 'big leap forward'

After their spacewalk, the crew conducted a series of scientific experiments and tested communication with SpaceX's Starlink satellite system. The Dragon capsule splashed down in the sea off the coast of Florida at 3:37 a.m. (local time; 9:37 a.m. CEST) on Sunday.

Former NASA employee Sean O'Keefe called the project “a turning point on the road to commercializing space.” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson spoke of “a great leap forward.” No civilians have ever performed a spacewalk; only trained professional astronauts have performed spacewalks.

In the coming years, Isaacman and SpaceX chief Musk are planning two more missions as part of the “Polaris” program. That includes the first crewed flight of SpaceX’s new Starship rocket, which is still under development. The cost of the program is unknown. (APA/AFP)