(MERRITT ISLAND, FL) — With the successful launch of SpaceX’s Fram2 mission on Monday night, an all-civilian crew is attempting to do what professional astronauts have never tried — orbit the Earth from pole to pole.
Riding on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, a SpaceX Dragon lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida just after 9:46 p.m. and carried the team into a 90-degree polar orbit.
During the three to five-day mission, the autonomous Dragon will repeatedly travel from the North Pole to the South Pole at an altitude of 267 miles, with each orbit taking about 46 minutes.
The privately funded mission is being led by Maltese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Chun Wang. Wang is joined by Jannicke Mikkelsen, a Norwegian film director and cinematographer, Rabea Rogge, a robotics researcher from Berlin and Eric Philips, a self-described professional polar adventurer. This will be the first time in space for the quartet.
After liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster landed on a SpaceX droneship in the Atlantic Ocean for reuse in future launches.
Named for the famous Norwegian polar exploration ship Fram, meaning “forward,” the Fram2 website says the team plans to view and photograph Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit and conduct 22 experiments focused on “advancing human health and performance in space, particularly for future long-duration missions” including being the first mission to take x-rays of the human body in space, growing mushrooms in microgravity and studying atmospheric phenomena.
“After extensive training and dedication from our entire crew, we are honored to continue the legacy of the Fram name in an exciting era of commercial space exploration,” Wang said in a press release. “We are thankful for this opportunity, and we are grateful to SpaceX for making this mission a reality – we are excited to be the first crew to view and capture the Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit and support important research to help advance humanity’s capabilities for long-duration space exploration.”
Mikkelsen, the mission’s vehicle commander, is a Norwegian film director and cinematographer specializing in next-generation technology for filming in hazardous and remote environments like the Earth’s poles.
Berlin-born Rogge, a robotics researcher, will serve as Fram2’s pilot, while Eric Philips, a professional polar adventurer and guide from Australia, will serve as Fram2’s mission specialist and medical officer.
The crew will observe Earth’s polar regions over 430 kilometers (267 miles) above the surface, allowing the Crew Dragon Resilience to travel from the North to the South Pole in under an hour. This route provides extensive coverage, enabling observation of areas and phenomena other missions cannot access.
Throughout Fram2’s time in orbit, the crew will take the first x-ray in space, perform exercise studies to maintain muscle and skeletal mass, and grow mushrooms in microgravity.
An exact landing date has not yet been announced, but the mission is expected to last nearly four days.
SpaceX says this will be the first west coast recovery of a Dragon crew. The capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the southern California coast. This is the fourth flight of this Dragon capsule.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
