First Human Spaceflight
To Earth’s Polar Regions

UPDATES

NET March 31, 2025 at 21:46:50 EDT, SpaceX will launch Fram2. And you’ll see that human spaceflight won’t be like it has been before.

Following the path to the glory of earlier heroic polar pioneers, a team of four space explorers, coming from six countries, will be the first humans to fly over Earth’s North and South Poles and witness the planet’s polar wilderness from space. They will orbit the Earth for 3 to 5 days…

Chun WANG

Mission Commander

Chun’s journey into blockchain began in 2011. He co-founded f2pool and stakefish, which are among the largest Bitcoin mining pools and Ethereum staking providers.

Jannicke MIKKELSEN

Vehicle Commander

Jannicke is a film director and cinematographer living on Svalbard, specializing in fringe-technology, creating next-generation technology for movies shot in remote and hazardous environments such as the Arctic, ocean, aviation, and space. In 2019, Jannicke served as Payload Specialist on the record-breaking polar circumnavigation flight One More Orbit mission in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

“As a filmmaker, I have long dreamed of these possibilities in fiction. Now, step by step, commercial mission by commercial mission, we are turning those dreams into reality.”

Rabea ROGGE

Pilot

Rabea is a robotics researcher from Berlin, currently pursuing her PhD in Norway. She has always been fascinated by extreme environments, studying them to understand the limits of our world — and to push beyond them. Her work includes leading a satellite mission and researching ocean robotics in the Arctic, reflecting her commitment to advancing technology in both polar regions and space.

Eric PHILIPS

Mission Specialist and Medical Officer

Eric is a professional polar adventurer and guide, having completed numerous ski expeditions to the North and South Poles. He is co-founder of the International Polar Guides Association and co-creator of the Polar Expeditions Classification Scheme, which has earned him international recognition and respect.

“Having spent much of my adult life in the polar regions this is an incredible opportunity to view the Arctic and Antarctica from space, in particular Antarctica which will be fully lit at this time of year.”

Fram2 crew in Prince William Sound, Alaska, 2024-07-05

The Mission

Fram2 will be the first polar-orbit human spaceflight mission to explore Earth. It will launch into a 90° circular orbit to the south from Florida, making it the first human spaceflight to fly over Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit.

The North and South Poles are invisible to astronauts on the International Space Station, as well as to all previous human spaceflight missions, except for the Apollo lunar missions but only from far away. To date, the highest inclination achieved by human spaceflight has been the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, at 65°. This new flight trajectory will unlock new possibilities for human spaceflight.

Fram2 crew first meet in Hawthorne, California, 2024-02-08

Trajectory

The crew plans to observe Earth’s polar regions at an altitude of 430 km. At this altitude, Dragon will fly from the North Pole to the South Pole in just above 46 minutes, 30 times faster than the One More Orbit mission did in 2019, when crew member Jannicke Mikkelsen and her team circumnavigated the Earth in a Gulfstream G650ER and set the Guinness World Record.

Throughout the 3-to-5-day mission, the crew plans to observe Earth’s polar wilderness through Dragon’s cupola, leveraging insights from space physicists and citizen scientists to study unusual light emissions resembling auroras.

Polar circumnavigation of Earth in Gulfstream G650ER (A7-CGD), 2019-07-09 to 2019-07-11

Research

The crew will conduct 22 experiments aimed at advancing human health and performance in space, particularly for future long-duration missions. Key highlights include capturing the first human X-ray images in space, studying blood flow restriction exercise to preserve muscle and bone mass, and growing mushrooms in microgravity as a potential space crop. Additional studies will explore sleep and stress patterns using wearable tech, continuous glucose monitoring, women’s hormonal health, motion sickness, and brain imaging immediately after landing using a portable MRI.

The crew will also observe green fragments and mauve ribbons of continuous emissions similar to the atmospheric phenomenon known as STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement), typically seen at altitudes of 400–500 km. The mission’s diverse research portfolio is designed to generate data that will support humanity’s next steps toward sustainable living and working in space.

More information is available in the here.

Fram2 crew training in NASTAR Center, Pennsylvania, 2024-05-10

First men at the pole.
— 1911

First to orbit the poles.
— 2025

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