STRATHAM, N.H. (WHDH) - A New Hampshire man returned home to the Granite State after a journey to space earlier this month.
Scott Poteet, of Statham, N.H. said it was an experience unlike anything else. Now that he’s back home, he’s being lauded as a hometown hero.
Poteet was part of a four-person crew onboard Polaris Dawn, a historic mission that broke boundaries and sent Poteet and three other civilians higher into orbit than any other mission since the 1970s.
“I never dreamed I would someday be floating in space,” Poteet said.
Poteet and his crew landed in the Gulf of Mexico on Sept. 15 after spending about five days in space.
“I have some dreams as well based on the experience,” he said.
The privately funded spaceflight was operated by SpaceX. The mission focused on research.
“The experience of being on orbit is simply life-altering. It certainly changes your perspective to be able to see Earth from that altitude. No one’s been that high since 1972, Apollo 17,” Poteet said.
The crew tested out a brand new spacesuit.
“The suit worked phenomenally, it’s extremely comfortable,” he said.
Poteet grew up in Durham, N.H. and is a former U.S. Air Force pilot. He said the journey opened his eyes to the future of space exploration and changed his view of the world.
“You know it’s ironic, you’re in this capsule, this tin can, and you can’t feel the atmosphere, the weather patterns, the wind, the smells that we experience in nature, but you see the beauty of the planet,” Poteet said.
Although he was thousands of miles from home, New England was never far from Poteet’s mind as he gazed on the Earth below.
“I found Cape Cod, Boston, and I worked my way up to the Portsmouth area and I snapped a couple pictures,” he said.
Poteet said he’s grateful to be back home and to have been a part of history.
“Anyone could have done the job that I did. I was just blessed to have that opportunity to be a part of it, because the mission is bigger than any one individual,” he said.
The Polaris Dawn mission marked the first-ever commercial spacewalk.
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