After historic first spacewalk, billionaire entrepreneur bats for future collaborations with govts

Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, who recently returned to Earth with his SpaceX crew after a historic five-day space mission, has highlighted the importance of collaboration with private entities to realise a future where tens of thousands of people--beyond government astronauts--will work in space across multiple space stations, lunar bases, and Mars outposts.

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"Space belongs to everyone, and it's essential that both commercial and government efforts work together to make that future a reality," Isaacman said upon his return.

"By opening up new frontiers, we're building a future for all of humanity, not just a select few," said the entrepreneur, who commanded the mission dubbed 'Polaris Dawn'.

Isaacman, along with two SpaceX engineers--Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon-and former US Air Force pilot Scott "Kidd" Poteet, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida's Dry Tortugas on Sunday.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule, named Resilience, carrying the four astronauts, launched into orbit on September 10, reaching a maximum altitude of 1,400.7 kilometres-the highest any crewed Earth-orbiting spacecraft has travelled since NASA's moon missions.