Sight To Behold: Four Space Tourists Splash Down in Pacific After Private Flight Over Earth's North, South Pole

In a breathtaking sight, four space tourists successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Friday after orbiting around the North and South Poles. They safely returned to Earth, concluding their privately funded polar tour.

Bitcoin investor Chun Wang, Norwegian filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen, German robotics researcher Rabeo Rogge, and Australian polar guide Eric Philips were onboard the privately funded SpaceX Dragon flight.

It was the first ever private human spaceflight to go around the North and South poles and splashed down in the pacific in 50 years.

During their time in space, the space tourists – framonauts – orbited the Earth 55 times, passing over the poles about every 46 minutes. 

After Dragon reentered the Earth's atmosphere, it splashed down off the southern coast of California near Oceanside at around 9:19 am.

This was the first Dragon human spaceflight mission to splash down off the coast of California, officially returning Dragon recovery operations to the West Coast.

After the splash down, the Dragon was safely aboard the recovery boat and the crew exited the spacecraft without any assistance. This will also help researchers characterize the ability of astronauts to perform functional tasks on their own after short and long durations in space.

As the framonauts were about to splash down, a recovery vessel Shannon was waiting in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. Soon after the splash down, the space tourists exited the Dragon unassisted.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams , Butch Wilmore return after 9 months in space   

Earlier on March 19, NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to earth after their stay at the International Space Station, initially planned just for a week, stretched for 278 days after their spacecraft Boeing Starliner which was supposed to bring them back, developed unavoidable technical faults.

The astronauts who just went for a week returned after a long wait of 9 months on a SpaceX Dragon flight. The crew also included NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

The astronauts who flagged off on Boeing Starliner on June 5, 2024 retuned on SpaceX Dragon flight on March 19, 2025 after they successfully splashed down.