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Fram2

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the polar orbit space mission. For other uses, see Fram 2 (disambiguation).

Fram2
Artist's rendering of Crew Dragon Resilience during Fram2
Mission typePrivate spaceflight
OperatorSpaceX
COSPAR ID2025-066A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.63427Edit this on Wikidata
Websitef2.com
Mission duration1 day, 19 hours and 20 minutes (in progress)
3–5 days (planned)
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftCrew Dragon Resilience
Spacecraft typeCrew Dragon
ManufacturerSpaceX
Crew
Crew size4
Members
Start of mission
Launch date1 April 2025, 01:46:50 UTC (31 March, 9:46:50 pm EDT)[1]
RocketFalcon 9 Block 5 (B1085.6), Flight 454
Launch siteKennedy, LC‑39A
End of mission
Recovered byMV Shannon
Landing sitePacific Ocean near Los Angeles, Oceanside, or San Diego
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric orbit
RegimePolar orbit (retrograde)
Perigee altitude202 km (126 mi)
Apogee altitude413 km (257 mi)
Inclination90.01°
Period93 minutes, 10 seconds

Mission insignia

Fram2 is an ongoing private human spaceflight mission that is being operated by SpaceX with a Crew Dragon spacecraft on behalf of entrepreneur Chun Wang. During the mission, Wang and his all-civilian crew — Jannicke Mikkelsen, Rabea Rogge and Eric Philips — were launched into a polar orbit, a first for a human spaceflight mission. During the three to five-day mission, the crew will conduct scientific research.[2][3]

Crew

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The crew of Fram2 was announced in August 2024.[4][5]

Position[6] Crew
Mission commander[b] Malta / Saint Kitts and Nevis[a] Chun Wang
First spaceflight
Vehicle commander[b] Norway / United Kingdom[c] Jannicke Mikkelsen
First spaceflight
Pilot Germany Rabea Rogge
First spaceflight
Mission specialist
Medical officer 		Australia Eric Philips
First spaceflight

Notes

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  1. ^ 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.[7]
  2. ^ a b Wang will be in command of the mission, Mikkelsen will be in command of the spacecraft with the traditional operating duties given to a typical NASA commander
  3. ^ 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.[8]

Mission

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The mission is intended to study the Earth's poles and their space environment. It will be a free-flight mission of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will be 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 pm EDT, local time at the launch site).[1]

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.[9]

The mission entered a low Earth orbit with an apogee of 413 kilometers (257 mi) and a perigee of 202 kilometers (126 mi) with a polar retrograde inclination of 90.01°, making it fly over both of Earth's poles.[10]

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.[11]

It will aim 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.[3] The crew will also attempt to grow oyster mushrooms, the first mushrooms to be grown in space.[11] Rogge plans a series of slow-scan television image transmissions over amateur radio targeted to educational groups competing in an event called Fram2Ham.[12]

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.[11]

The mission is set to conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the first 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. Returning to Pacific Ocean splashdowns allows the trunk to remain attached longer and be 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.[13][14]

References

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  1. ^ a b Baylor, Michael. "Upcoming Launch: Fram2". nextspaceflight.com. NextSpaceFlight. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  2. ^ Grønning, Trygve (13 August 2024). "Norske Jannicke Mikkelsen skal til verdensrommet" [Norwegian Jannicke Mikkelsen is going to space]. nrk.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b Wall, Mike (12 August 2024). "SpaceX to launch 4 people on historic Fram2 mission over Earth's poles in late 2024". Space.com. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  4. ^ Berger, Eric (13 August 2024). "SpaceX announces first human mission to ever fly over the planet's poles". Ars Technica. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  5. ^ Harwood, William (12 August 2024). "SpaceX to launch privately-financed international crew of four around Earth's poles". SpaceFlight Now. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  6. ^ Marshall, Candice (18 March 2025). "Aussie explorer to swap snow boots for spacesuit". australiangeographic.com.au. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  7. ^ Rogge, Rabea [@rprogge] (27 November 2024). "We just completed another round of training!" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 March 2025 – via Twitter.
  8. ^ Bjørnstad, Nora Thorp (2 December 2024). "Jannicke Mikkelsen blir første nordmann i verdensrommet: Her er det første bildet" [Jannicke Mikkelsen becomes the first Norwegian in space: Here is the first photo]. VG (in Norwegian). Retrieved 10 March 2025.
  9. ^ Warren, Haygen (1 April 2025). "SpaceX launches Fram2 crewed mission to historic polar orbit". nasaspaceflight.com. NASASpaceflight. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  10. ^ McDowell, Jonathan [@planet4589] (1 April 2025). "First Space Force orbit data for Fram-2 out, showing it in a 202 x 413 km x 90.01 deg orbit" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ a b c Wattles, Jackie (1 April 2025). "SpaceX launches first-of-its kind tourism mission around Earth's poles". CNN. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  12. ^ "Fram2Ham". fram2ham.com. 14 December 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  13. ^ Robinson-Smith, Will (26 July 2024). "NASA holds briefings on Crew 9 mission as SpaceX nears return to flight". spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
  14. ^ "Dragon Recovery to Return to the U.S. West Coast". spacex.com. 26 July 2024. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
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