What we know about the SpaceX Fram2 mission, a mission of firsts
The view from Rockledge Drive of the lightning storm on Monday night
The view from Rockledge Drive of the lightning storm on the night of the March 31, 2025 SpaceX Fram2 carrying a crew of four heading to a polar orbit.
- SpaceX launched the Fram2 mission, carrying four astronauts, into a polar orbit around Earth, a first in human spaceflight history.
- The Fram2 crew, all experienced explorers of extreme environments on Earth, will capture images of the poles, auroras, and conduct health experiments.
- The mission pays homage to the Fram, a Norwegian ship known for its polar expeditions, with the crew carrying a piece of the ship and recreating a historic photo in their mission patch.
It looked like a scene from an action movie: lightning flashed in the distance as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A.
“Go for launch,” a voice on the SpaceX livestream called out seconds before the rocket soared into the sky Monday night. Atop that Falcon 9 was a Dragon spacecraft carrying four first-time astronauts on a journey no other space traveler has taken — an orbit around Earth’s poles.
The Falcon 9 flew directly into a 90-degree circular orbit, rumbling straight overhead those watching from the ground in Florida. In the 64 years of humans launching to space, this trajectory with humans onboard has never been done.
Making history on this mission was commander Chun Wang. Wang purchased the flight from SpaceX. His crew included Eric Philips, who is the mission specialist and medical officer, Jannicke Mikkelsen, the vehicle commander, and Rabea Rogge, the spacecraft pilot. All four are explorers of extreme places on Earth, such as the polar regions.
Here are some interesting things we know about this mission, which still remains shrouded in mystery.
Fram2 watched a SpaceX rocket launch on the way to their launch
While SpaceX did not provide media footage of the crew suiting up and heading to the launch pad as in previous private missions, Wang posted on X about the crew’s unique experience — they got to watch a rocket launch on the way to their own launch.
Just hours prior to their scheduled liftoff, a Starlink mission launched atop a Falcon 9. The Fram2 crew was on their way to the SpaceX launch facility from Merritt Island when they spotted the rocket flying overhead.
The Starlink launch had been delayed from Sunday due to weather. But its 3:52 p.m. Monday launch came just as the Fram2 crew were riding in SpaceX Telsas right past Merritt Island High School. Wang recorded the launch, and posted it to X. In just over six hours, they would be riding on a Falcon 9 themselves.
“Above the clouds in a minute. There! There,” one of the crew members can be heard calling out on top of video of the rocket flying into the sunny afternoon sky.
“We’re gonna watch a rocket launch while on our way to a rocket launch,” wrote Wang.
Fram ship to SpaceX spaceship
As for the mission, it is named after a record-breaking Norwegian ship from the early 20th century. The Fram ship sailed to the polar regions in the late 1800s/early 1900s.
To pay tribute to the original Fram crews, the Fram2 crew carried a piece of the Fram ship to orbit with them. This tribute was in partnership with the Fram museum in Norway.
Even more intriguing, the four Fram2 crew members, who are all explorers of extreme places on Earth, met in Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago. Wang said he was inspired to orbit the polar regions after watching Jared Isaacman’s Inspiration4 mission in 2021 − which was the first all-civilian mission to orbit Earth.
In an interesting note, Wang originally wanted to name his mission ‘Polaris’ − as they were planning to fly over the poles − but that name had already been taken by Isaacman for the Polaris Dawn mission.
What is Fram2 doing in space?
The crew will take imagery of Earth’s poles from orbit, as well as focusing the auroras.
During the mission, they also plan to conduct some health experiments. This includes taking the first X-ray image of the human body off-planet − called the SpaceXray study. Medical studies will also look at women’s health, the health of astronauts with diabetes, motion sickness, blood flow in microgravity, brain health, and bone health.
Fram2 will also grow the first oyster mushrooms in space, as part of Mission MushVroom.
Fram2 mission patch
The Fram2 mission is full of nods to polar explorations. The mission patch recreates an iconic photo.
The four astronauts looking at the tent is a recreation of a photo of the first people to successfully venture to Earth’s South Pole. Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer, and three companions, posed in front of their tent upon reaching the South…
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