SpaceX's Fram2 Mission Breaks New Ground with First-Ever Polar Orbit Private Astronaut Flight

Fram2, history's first-ever private astronaut mission, has been launched by SpaceX on an unprecedented journey around earth in polar orbit. Fram2, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, has been commanded by Maltese Businessman and Chinese-born bitcoin billionaire Chun Wang, also the investor of the expedition.

The Fram2 mission is a tribute to the Norwegian historic research vessel Fram, which was famous for Arctic expeditions in the early 20th century. The crew consists of notable figures, including Norwegian film director Jannicke Mikkelsen, German robotics expert Rabea Rogge, and Australian explorer Eric Philips. The crew will be in space for 3 to 5 days, conducting 22 experiments on the human body's reaction to space travel and microgravity.

It is the sixth SpaceX manned astronaut mission, illustrating the increasing role of commercial participants in human spaceflight. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, made possible through the investment by NASA, is now an integral spacecraft for government and commercial flights. Fram2's mission is uniquely path-breaking owing to its flight orbit around the two poles of our planet, for the very first time in spaceflight history. This brings the human potential to research via experiments within an orbit for potential future breakthrough missions and advancing mankind's body-environment interfaces towards understanding.