Aerospace company SpaceX has begun implementing the private manned mission Fram2, within the framework of which the Crew Dragon spacecraft with a civilian crew on board will enter a polar orbit for the first time in history, i.e. will circle the Earth around the poles. The ship was launched into orbit using a Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which was launched from pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 04:46 Moscow time on April 1.
Image source: Spacex
The Crew Dragon crew for the Fram2 mission consists of four astronauts. The mission commander is Maltese entrepreneur Chun Wang, and the ship commander is Norwegian film director Jannicke Mikkelsen. The ship pilot is German Rabea Rogge, and the mission specialist is Australian Eric Phillips.
Two and a half minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s nine Merlin first-stage engines shut down. The first stage then separated and entered braking mode to enter a landing trajectory. About 5.5 minutes later, it successfully touched down on the Just Read the Instructions floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
At the same time, the second stage with the ship continued to gain altitude and about 10 minutes after the launch, it brought it into low Earth orbit, after which it separated. Now the crew will have to spend 3 to 5 days flying over the most remote points of the Earth to see the poles as no one has ever seen them before.
The Fram2 mission is named after the Norwegian vessel Fram, which was used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to explore the Arctic and Antarctic. Translated from Norwegian, the word fram means “forward.” During the flight, the ship’s crew will conduct 22 experiments, including an attempt to grow mushrooms and obtain X-ray images of the human body in orbit. In addition, it is planned to study the effect of microgravity on the human musculoskeletal system.
Interestingly, the Fram2 mission will end with the capsule splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. This will be a first for SpaceX, as all previous missions by the company ended off the coast of Florida. After splashdown, a final research experiment will be conducted: the crew will not receive standard medical care in order to better study the process of adaptation of the body to gravity after returning from space.