Billionaire returns to Earth after spacewalk

The SpaceX capsule after it reached the Gulf of Mexico. Pic/AP

Billionaire spacewalker Jared Isaacman returned to Earth with his crew on Sunday, ending a five-day trip that lifted them higher than anyone has traveled since NASA's moonwalkers.

SpaceX's capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida's Dry Tortugas in the predawn darkness, carrying Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot.

They pulled off the first private spacewalk while orbiting nearly 740 km above Earth, higher than the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope. Their spacecraft hit a peak altitude of 1,408 km following Tuesday's liftoff.

Isaacman became the 264th person to perform a spacewalk since 1965.

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