2024-08-16 07:15:07
A SpaceX mission is planning the first manned flight over the Earth’s poles, AFP reported. The crew, including four astronauts, will take off at the end of the year.
The duration of the mission will be between three and five days, and its purpose is the development of private space tourism. It is named Fram2 after the Fram ship used by Norwegian explorer Fritjof Nansen for polar research. The mission leader and crew member is cryptocurrency tycoon Chun Wang. Wang was born and raised in China but recently became a citizen of Malta.
“I’ve been looking forward to this mission for two and a half years now,” Van wrote on his profile on the X platform.
“This is a new chapter in space exploration,” astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told AFP. According to him, reaching the poles requires much more power. To date, the highest inclination achieved by human spaceflight was that of the Soviet Vostok 6 mission. , reaching 65 degrees relative to the plane of the equator.
The Fram2 mission will be launched on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and will be equipped with an observation dome. The spacecraft will fly at an altitude between 425 and 450 km above the polar regions. The other three crew members will be Norwegian director Janike Mikkelsen, Australian explorer Eric Phillips and German explorer Rabea Rogge. Scientific observations are planned, with the first X-ray pictures to be taken in space and an unusual light phenomenon resembling the aurora being investigated, BTA reports.