SpaceX has successfully completed its latest commercial human spaceflight mission, Fram2, which marked the first time a crew flew directly over the North and South poles from Earth orbit. The private-funded mission, led by cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang, carried four passengers on a unique 90-degree orientation around our planet.
The crew splashed down off the coast of California, marking a historic West Coast landing for SpaceX’s human spaceflight missions. The company livestreamed the splashdown and recovery process, which included various research projects and experiments designed to test crew health and performance in space.
Wang, who traveled on the mission with Norwegian film director Jannicke Mikkelsen, Germany-based robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, and Australian adventurer Eric Philips, reported experiencing motion sickness during the first few hours of microgravity. However, by the second morning, he felt refreshed and able to continue with the experiments.
The Fram2 crew shared images and videos from their experiences in space, including stunning views of Antarctica’s pure white landscape without any human activity visible. The mission was designed to test various research projects, including evaluating crew health, capturing aurora-like light shows from space, and growing mushrooms in microgravity.
According to Dr. Eric Donovan, an aurora expert with the University of Calgary’s department of physics and astronomy, taking photographs of aurora-like light shows from space has not been done extensively before. The Fram2 mission provides a unique opportunity for scientists to study this phenomenon further.
The private-funded nature of the mission allowed for more flexibility in terms of research goals, with Dr. Christopher Combs stating that SpaceX needed something “different and exciting” about its mission.
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/04/science/spacex-fram2-mission-return-earth/index.html