Fram2

The crew of Fram2 was announced in August 2024.{{Cite web |last=Berger |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Berger (journalist) |date=13 August 2024 |title=SpaceX announces first human mission to ever fly over the planet's poles |url=https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/08/spacex-announces-first-human-mission-to-ever-fly-over-the-planets-poles/ |access-date=13 August 2024 |publisher=Ars Technica}}{{Cite news |last=Harwood |first=William |date=12 August 2024 |title=SpaceX to launch privately-financed international crew of four around Earth's poles |url=https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/08/12/spacex-to-launch-privately-financed-international-crew-of-four-around-earths-poles/ |access-date=13 August 2024 |publisher=SpaceFlight Now}}

{{Spaceflight crew

|references={{Cite web |last=Marshall |first=Candice |date=18 March 2025 |title=Aussie explorer to swap snow boots for spacesuit |url=https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/science-environment/2025/03/aussie-explorer-to-swap-snow-boots-for-spacesuit/ |access-date=18 March 2025 |website=australiangeographic.com.au |language=en}}

|position1=Mission commander{{Efn|Wang was in command of the mission, Mikkelsen was in command of the spacecraft with the traditional operating duties given to a typical NASA commander |name=command |group=crew}}

|crew1_up={{Flag icon|Malta}}{{nnbsp}}/{{nnbsp}}{{Flag icon|Saint Kitts and Nevis}}{{efn|Wang was born in China but lives primarily in Svalbard, Norway and since 2023 is also a citizen of Malta and Saint Kitts and Nevis through their golden visa programs. He wore the flag of Malta on his spacesuit during the flight.{{Cite tweet |number=1861772649870791005 |user=rprogge |title=We just completed another round of training! |first=Rabea |last=Rogge |author-link=Rabea Rogge |date=27 November 2024 |access-date=10 March 2025}}|group=crew}} Chun Wang

|flights1_up=First

|position2=Vehicle commander{{Efn|name=command|group=crew}}

|crew2_up={{Flag icon|Norway}}{{nnbsp}}/{{nnbsp}}{{Flag icon|United Kingdom}}{{Efn|Mikkelsen was born in the United Kingdom, but is now a citizen of Norway. She wore the flag of Norway on her spacesuit during the flight.{{Cite news |last=Bjørnstad |first=Nora Thorp |date=2 December 2024 |title=Jannicke Mikkelsen blir første nordmann i verdensrommet: Her er det første bildet |trans-title=Jannicke Mikkelsen becomes the first Norwegian in space: Here is the first photo |url=https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/vg8515/jannicke-mikkelsen-blir-foerste-nordmann-i-verdensrommet-her-er-det-foerste-bildet |access-date=10 March 2025 |work=VG |language=no}}|group=crew}} Jannicke Mikkelsen

|flights2_up=First

|position3=Pilot

|crew3_up={{Flag icon|Germany}} Rabea Rogge

|flights3_up=First

|position4=Mission specialist
Medical officer

|crew4_up={{Flag icon|Australia}} Eric Philips

|flights4_up=First

}}

The mission studied the Earth's poles and their space environment. It was a free-flight mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was equipped with the panoramic cupola attachment that first flew on Inspiration4.

Initially, Crew Dragon Endurance was selected for this flight, because it shares its name with Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic exploration vessel. Due to changes in the Crew Dragon manifest, however, Endurance was assigned to Crew-10, and it was decided to fly Fram2 using Resilience. The mission launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on 1 April 2025 at 01:46:50 UTC (31 March, 9:46:50 p.m. EDT, local time at the launch site).{{Cite web |last=Baylor |first=Michael |title=Upcoming Launch: Fram2 |url=https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7615 |access-date=15 October 2024 |publisher=NextSpaceFlight |website=nextspaceflight.com |language=en}}

The mission is named Fram2 in reference and succession to the Norwegian polar exploration ship Fram, the first to complete expeditions to both the North Pole and South Pole between 1893 and 1912. The crew carried a piece of the ship's teak deck to space.{{Cite web |last=Warren |first=Haygen |date=1 April 2025 |title=SpaceX launches Fram2 crewed mission to historic polar orbit |url=https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/03/fram2-launch/ |access-date=2025-04-01 |publisher=NASASpaceflight |website=nasaspaceflight.com |language=en}}

The mission entered a low Earth orbit with an apogee of {{convert|413|km|sp=us}} and a perigee of {{convert|202|km|sp=us}} with a polar retrograde inclination of 90.01°, making it fly over both of Earth's poles.{{Cite tweet |first=Jonathan |last=McDowell |author-link=Jonathan McDowell |user=planet4589 |number=1906922678067560513 |title=First Space Force orbit data for Fram-2 out, showing it in a 202 x 413{{nbsp}}km x 90.01° orbit |note=0.01° means it entered Retrograde orbit too}} It broke the previous record for highest orbital inclination of a crewed spaceflight set by Vostok 6 in 1963.{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last1= Glushko|editor-first1=Valentin P. |editor-link1=Valentin Glushko |date=1985 |title=Entsiklopediya Kosmonavtika |trans-title=Encyclopedia of Cosmonauts|publisher= Sovetskaya Entsiklopedia |language=Russian |location=Moscow }} As referenced by {{cite web |last=Zak |first=Anatoly |editor-last1=Chabot |editor-first1=Alain |date=18 June 2016 |title=Vostok-5 and Vostok-6 missions |website=russianspaceweb.com |url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/vostok6_aftermath.html |access-date=April 5, 2025}}

Because of the unique launch to the south, the software on the Dragon spacecraft was updated with new abort scenarios that would propel the capsule away from populated areas in Florida, Cuba, Panama and Peru to make a water landing.{{Cite news |last=Wattles |first=Jackie |date=1 April 2025 |title=SpaceX launches first-of-its kind tourism mission around Earth's poles |url=https://www.cnn.com/science/live-news/spacex-launch-fram2-mission-03-31-25 |access-date=1 April 2025 |publisher=CNN |language=en}}

The crew planned to observe and study aurora-like phenomena such as STEVE and green fragments and conduct experiments on the human body, including the first X-ray of a human in space. The crew also attempted to grow oyster mushrooms, the first mushrooms to be grown in space. Rogge planned{{needs update|date=April 2025}} a series of slow-scan television image transmissions over amateur radio targeted to educational groups competing in an event called Fram2Ham.{{Cite web |date=14 December 2024 |title=Fram2Ham |url=https://fram2ham.com/ |access-date=18 March 2025 |website=fram2ham.com}} Rogge also executed the Swiss-Nevisian biological experiment "Space Genomics" by Swiss Oliver Ullrich and Cora Thiel.{{Cite web |title=Detail - Swiss Trade |url=https://swisstrade.com/news/detail/news/universitaet-zuerich-ist-mit-experiment-im-all/ |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=swisstrade.com}}

Dr. Christopher Combs, the associate dean of research at the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at the University of Texas at San Antonio, described the mission as, "a notch above a gimmick, but not exactly a groundbreaking milestone", with the planned experiments described as offering limited scientific value and able to be conducted regardless of the flight path. However, for the crew members, each with ties to polar exploration, the mission holds personal significance.

The mission concluded with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oceanside, California on 4 April 2025 at 16:19:28{{nbsp}}UTC (9:19:28{{nbsp}}a.m. PDT, local time at the landing site). It was the first Pacific splashdown for a Crew Dragon mission. While SpaceX Dragon 1 cargo missions previously landed in the Pacific, recovery operations shifted to the Eastern U.S. in 2019 to expedite the return of astronauts and critical cargo to Kennedy Space Center. However, this adjustment had an unintended consequence: the trunk module, jettisoned before reentry, was expected to burn up in the atmosphere, yet at least four instances of trunk debris being found on land were reported. During this Pacific Ocean splashdown, the trunk remained attached longer and was directed toward a remote area of the ocean called Point Nemo (nicknamed the spacecraft cemetery), where any debris that survives reentry will be unlikely to cause damage.{{Cite web |last=Robinson-Smith |first=Will |date=26 July 2024 |title=NASA holds briefings on Crew 9 mission as SpaceX nears return to flight |url=https://spaceflightnow.com/2024/07/26/watch-live-nasa-holds-briefings-on-crew-9-mission-as-spacex-nears-return-to-flight/ |access-date=27 July 2024 |website=spaceflightnow.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=26 July 2024 |title=Dragon Recovery to Return to the U.S. West Coast |url=https://www.spacex.com/updates/ |access-date=27 July 2024 |website=spacex.com}}

• STS-62-A, a cancelled Space Shuttle mission intended to launch into polar orbit.
• List of fully civilian crewed orbital spaceflights

{{Notelist|group=crew}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://f2.com Official website]

{{Dragon spaceflights}}

{{SpaceX missions and payloads}}

Category:SpaceX Dragon 2

Category:SpaceX human spaceflights

Category:Fully civilian crewed orbital spaceflights

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