SpaceX Shares Beautiful Polar Views From Its Historic Fram2 Mission

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on Monday night time, sending 4 novice astronauts on an unprecedented journey round Earth’s poles. The mission is touring the place no crew has gone earlier than, and SpaceX simply revealed the primary views of the planet’s chilly polar areas from above.

SpaceX launched a brief video taken from the Dragon crew car, showcasing the unbelievable view from the freshly launched Fram2 mission. “First views of Earth’s polar areas from Dragon,” the corporate wrote on X. Fram2’s four-person crew is touring in a polar orbit across the planet, the place they’re set to spend three to 5 days finishing up analysis from their distinctive vantage level.

First views of Earth’s polar areas from Dragon pic.twitter.com/3taP34zCeN

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 1, 2025

Fram2, named in honor of the unique ship that reached each Earth’s Arctic and Antarctic areas, lifted off on March 31 at 9:46 p.m. ET from NASA’s Kennedy Area Heart in Florida. The non-public mission launched a crew of first-timers aboard the Dragon Resilience, the identical spacecraft from which the Polaris Dawn crew pulled off the first commercial spacewalk in history simply final yr. Chun Wang, a crypto billionaire who based the Bitcoin mining firms f2pool and stakefish, is commanding, and reportedly funding, the mission. The remainder of the crew contains Jannicke Mikkelsen, a Norwegian cinematographer; Eric Philips, an Australian polar adventurer; and Rabea Rogge, a German robotics researcher.

The Dragon spacecraft is flying over the planet’s polar areas at an altitude of round 265 to 280 miles (425 to 450 kilometers), and touring in a polar orbit at an inclination of about 60 to 90 levels to the equator. A gaggle of people has by no means ventured to polar orbit earlier than, primarily because of the higher-than-usual radiation ranges. It additionally requires much more vitality, and cash, to achieve polar orbit as a result of the trajectory doesn’t profit from Earth’s rotation.

The astronauts will conduct 22 analysis research to enhance our understanding of human well being in house and put together for lengthy length missions. The crew will try to take the primary X-ray in house, carry out train research to keep up muscle and skeletal mass, and develop mushrooms in microgravity. As soon as again on Earth, the crew will exit the Dragon spacecraft “with out further medical and operational help, serving to researchers characterize the power of astronauts to carry out unassisted purposeful duties after quick and lengthy durations in house,” in keeping with SpaceX.

From the distinctive vantage level, the non-public crew can even be capable of observe the aurora-like phenomenon called STEVE (Sturdy Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement), recognized for its hazy purple and inexperienced streaks throughout the sky.

Thus far, Fram2 has delivered with breathtaking views of Earth’s poles, and there’s lots extra to come back from SpaceX’s newest non-public mission.