SpaceX Announces First Human Spaceflight over Polar Regions
Jannicke Mikkelsen from Svalbard, Norway, (second from the left) will participate in a historic polar orbit mission together with Eric Philips (Australia), Chun Wang (China/Malta), and Rabea Rogge (Germany). (Photo: SpaceX)
Fram2 will be the first spaceflight in which humans will fly over and explore the polar regions, says SpaceX. The crew, which includes Norwegian Jannicke Mikkelsen from Svalbard, will study unusual light emissions resembling auroras.
As early as this year, four adventurers will head into space and fly in a polar orbit, says SpaceX in a press release.
Never before has a spaceflight over the Earth's poles been conducted with humans, according to the American space company.
The commercial astronaut mission has been named Fram2, after the polar ship used by Norwegian explorers for expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctica.
It is funded and will be led by Chun Wang, a Chinese crypto entrepreneur based in Malta.
Among those joining the journey is Norwegian Jannicke Mikkelsen, becoming Norway's first female astronaut. Mikkelsen lives in Longyearbyen on Svalbard, where she works as a filmmaker and freelance journalist.
The crew also includes polar explorer Eric Philips from Australia and robotics engineer Rabea Rogge from Germany.
Throughout the 3-to-5-day mission, they plan to observe Earth’s polar regions at an altitude of 425–450 kilometers and study peculiar light phenomena similar to the northern lights.
Other studies on the agenda
SpaceX will carry out the fight with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft. The launch will occur at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA.
The crew members, none of whom have been in space before, will also participate in SpaceX's studies to develop tools to prepare humanity for future, long-duration spaceflight.
This involves studying the effects of space flight on the human body and psychological health. Among other things, this includes taking the first X-rays of a human in space.
SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk plans to send people to Mars and establish a settlement on the planet.
During the past four years, the company has launched 13 human spaceflight missions, with a total of 50 crewmembers.
