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On Monday, March 31, SpaceX successfully launched its Fram2 mission, marking a groundbreaking milestone in human spaceflight as the first crewed mission to orbit Earth’s polar regions. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 9:46 p.m. EDT, carrying four private astronauts aboard the Crew Dragon capsule Resilience into a 90-degree inclination polar orbit.
The mission, funded and commanded by Maltese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Chun Wang, includes a diverse crew of polar exploration enthusiasts: Norwegian filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen, who serves as vehicle commander; German robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, the mission pilot; and Australian polar adventurer Eric Philips, acting as mission specialist and medical officer.
This all-civilian team, dubbed the “Framonauts,” embarked on a three-to-five-day journey to study Earth’s poles from space, a trajectory never before flown by humans.
The launch, which occurred under a dramatic sky with storm lightning flashing in the distance, saw the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster separate and land successfully on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean, reinforcing SpaceX’s leadership in reusable rocket technology.
The Crew Dragon Resilience, previously used in the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn missions, reached orbit smoothly, and the crew reported their first stunning views of Earth’s polar regions by Tuesday, April 1st, as shown in the video linked below.
First views of Earth's polar regions from Dragon pic.twitter.com/3taP34zCeN
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 1, 2025
Named after the Norwegian ship “Fram,” which explored the Arctic and Antarctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Fram2 mission carries a small piece of the ship’s teak decking as a symbolic nod to its historical inspiration.
The crew’s objectives include conducting 22 scientific experiments, such as the SpaceXray study—the first X-ray imaging of humans in space—along with capturing imagery of the poles and auroras. These efforts aim to advance research on human health in space and gather data on Earth’s remote regions.
The mission underscores SpaceX’s growing dominance in private spaceflight, being the company’s sixth private astronaut mission and the third fully chartered flight, following Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn.
The Crew Dragon is expected to orbit Earth at an altitude of approximately 267 miles, passing from the North Pole to the South Pole every 46 minutes. After completing their mission, the Framonauts will return to Earth with a splashdown off the coast of California, marking SpaceX’s shift of recovery operations from Florida to the West Coast.
The launch has sparked excitement worldwide, with SpaceX sharing live footage and updates, including a video of the crew witnessing a separate Falcon 9 launch during their drive to the pad, shown in the video below.
We’re gonna watch a rocket launch while on our way to a rocket launch. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/G1IfJdGt1f
— Chun (@satofishi) March 31, 2025
As of Tuesday evening (April 1), the crew had spent over half a day in orbit, with more breathtaking views and scientific insights anticipated in the days ahead. This pioneering flight not only expands humanity’s reach into uncharted orbital paths but also highlights the increasing role of private enterprise in space exploration, setting the stage for future missions to even more distant frontiers.
The ride to orbit was much smoother than I had anticipated. Apart from the final minute before SECO, I barely felt any G-forces—it honestly felt like just another flight.
— Chun (@satofishi) April 2, 2025
I had imagined it would feel like being in an elevator that suddenly drops, but that sensation never came.… pic.twitter.com/h7YMyPY9ld
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