Less than a month after the SpaceX Crew-10 mission blasted off to the International Space Station, another four-person crew is gearing to up launch from the same pad in Florida this time making history as the first astronauts to fly in a polar orbit.
The mission is dubbed “Fram2” in reference to the Norwegian ship, Fram, which was used for Antarctic and Arctic expeditions in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the same spirit, the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, Resilience, will orbit the Earth over the poles during the course of a three- to five-day mission.
Fram2 is targeting launch on Monday, March 31, at 9:47 p.m. EDT (0147 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1085, which will be making its sixth trip to space and back. It will also mark the first time a crewed mission launches on a booster with five previous flights.
Dragon Resilience will once again be outfitted with a cupola underneath the nose cone, as it did during the Inspiration4 mission in 2021. The capsule most recently flew on the Polaris Dawn mission using the Skywalker bracing system used to support the commercial spacewalk.
The stated mission goals for Fram2 are to to conduct a mission dedictated to capturing and studying the Earth’s polar regions from a low Earth orbit (LEO) vantage point and to perform science experiments that will help further long-duration space exploration.
The crew consist of Malta resident Chun Wang, Vehicle Commander Jannicke Mikkelsen, Pilot Rabea Rogge and Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Eric Philips. All four of them will fly to space for the first time on this mission that is being funded by Wang for an undisclosed amount.
The four private astronauts arrived in Florida on Monday, March 24, following roughly eight months of training, at SpaceX facilities in Florida and California as well as in outdoor conditions, like a wilderness expedition in Alaska.
“As a crew, we are eager to showcase our explorational spirit and show the world the polar regions from a new angle while also showcasing how technology helps push the boundaries of how we understand Earth and Space,” said Chun Wang, the mission commander in a written response to questions from Spaceflight Now. “We’ve all dedicated our lives to exploring and sharing the polar regions with others in different ways, we have a chance to do this on a scale that no one else has ever had.”
The crew have 22 science and research experiments that will be performed during their flight. Those include sleep research in partnership with Oura Health, Inc.; glucose monitoring, which will help account for future astronauts who may be diabetic; and a women’s heath study, which will use the Hormona app and test to “analyze how the female reproductive hormones are impacted by microgravity and space radiation.”
Philips, the assigned medical officer and professional polar guide, said some of the science he’s most looking forward to are experiments that will help with long-duration spaceflight and future Mars habitation.
“Research shows that changes in bone density are measurable shortly after being exposed to microgravity. Astronauts on the ISS workout on treadmills for up to two hours per day to mitigate bone density and muscle loss,” Philips said. “Fram2 will be taking the first X-rays in space, an important step towards monitoring and treating the bones of humans flying to Mars.
“Fram2 will [also] be the first mission to cultivate and grow mushrooms in space. Successfully growing edible mushrooms in microgravity, such as oyster mushrooms, will demonstrate the capability of astronauts to produce a nutritious and sustainable in-flight food source for future missions to Mars.”
The latter experiment, dubbed Mission MushVroom, will see the growth of oyster mushrooms.
Part of the mission will also be focused on imaging the poles through both photography and videography. Mikkelsen, an award-winning Norwegian cinematographer and film director, is leading the charge on this alongside her production company, O2XR.
“My team at O2XR and I have planned out every shot from space in detail by using a virtual mockup of our capsule in our orbit,” she said. “This lets me virtually look out the Dragon windows and cupola, film with a virtual camera and attach all my virtual lenses to see what the image will look like when we are in orbit.”
Mikkelsen said she will use a reMarkable Paper Pro tablet to help calculate and note the various camera shots while on orbit. Among the equipment she’s flying and will use are O2XR previs, RED V-Raptor 8K cameras, Canon R5C cameras and a range of Canon RF lenses.
She said the reason for the wide array of equipment is to capture video in 180-degree virtual reality and in 8K to provide the best quality views of their experience. Mikkelsen said fine-tuning the selection was “an extensive process” to overcome some of the “unique challenges with planning a film production from space.”
“This is a human spaceflight and safety is our number one priority. These cameras and lenses we are bringing have gone through rigorous testing to see if they can endure our launch to space,” Mikkelsen said. “The last thing I want to discover on orbit are cameras and lenses that broke under the powerful G-forces we experience on blast-off.”
During the orbital expedition, they will be documenting the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis, which will used for further scientific study in the months and years to come. Mikkelsen said their imagery will be matched up with photographers and videographers on the Earth who will photograph the auroras simultaneously during the Fram2 mission as part of the SolarMaX project.
The quartet are set to hold a public briefing on X on Friday, March 28, to discuss their mission. An on-camera briefing is not planned ahead of liftoff.