SpaceX has completed the first-ever spaceflight to fly over the Earth's poles. The Fram2 mission launched on March 31 from NASA's Florida launch pad aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft entered polar orbit with a crew of four rookies:
- Chun Wan (Malta) – Mission Commander,
- Jannike Mikkelsen (Norway) – ship commander,
- Rabea Rogge (Germany) – pilot,
- Eric Phillips (Australia) – Medical Officer.
After launch, the Falcon 9 first stage successfully landed on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean. 10 minutes later, the Resilience spacecraft entered orbit, and now the crew will observe the Earth from a unique angle for 3-5 days.
The mission is named after the Norwegian vessel Fram, which explored the Arctic and Antarctic. The Fram2 crew will conduct 22 scientific experiments, including the first cultivation of mushrooms in space, obtaining the first X-ray images of the human body in orbit, and studying the effects of microgravity on the human muscular system.
Fram2 will be SpaceX's first manned mission to splash down in the Pacific Ocean. The astronauts will forgo traditional post-landing medical care to study the effects of gravity after spaceflight.