SpaceX Fram2 1st polar astronaut mission: Live updates (2025)

SpaceX's Fram2 mission will launch cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang into orbit with three crewmates on March 31 on a first-of-its-kind astronaut flight over Earth's poles. Liftoff is at 9:46 p.m. EDT (0146 am April 1 GMT).

The historic spaceflight will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule from Pad 39A of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The flight will include Wang as a mission commander, vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway, pilot Rabea Rogge of Germany, and Australian Eric Phillips, Fram2's medical officer and mission specialist. It should last three to five days.

Launch webcast | Meet the Crew | SpaceX | Falcon 9 | Dragon

2025-03-31T21:55:55.683Z

SpaceX Fram2 crew ready to launch

It is launch day for SpaceX's next private space mission, the first-of-its-kind Fram2 flight, which will launch a crew of four astroanuts over the Earth's poles. It is the first human spaceflight over the poles.

The Fram2 crew, commanded by cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang (who financed the flight) will launch from NASA's Pad 39A of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:46 p.m. EDT (0146 April 1 GMT) atop a Falcon 9 and a Crew Dragon capsule. You can watch the launch live on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, beginning at about 8:46 p.m. EDT (0046 GMT).

Joining Wang on the flight will be vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway, pilot Rabea Rogge of Germany, and Australian Eric Phillips, Fram2's medical officer and mission specialist.

Mikkelsen is a filmmaker known for working in challenging environments like the Arctic and open sea. Rogge is a German engineer and scientist specializing in robotics and polar research. Phillips is an Australian polar explorer who has led expeditions to the North and South Poles.

The four astronaut will spend three to five days in orbit studying Earth's poles from space, performing 22 different science experiments and enjoying their time in space. They are expected to return to Earth with a splashdown at sea.

Over the weekend, SpaceX rolled the Falcon 9 rocket out to the launch pad and performed a launch dress rehearsal with the crew.

On Sunday, the company successfully performed a static test fire of the Falcon 9's first stae, setting the stage for today's launch.

2025-03-31T18:21:44.565Z

Fram2 astronauts watch Starlink launch from SpaceX Tesla

As the four Fram2 astronauts prepare for their SpaceX launch today, SpaceX itself was very busy. The company launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a new fleet of Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, which is near NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where the four astronauts will lift off from later tonight.

The Starlink launch lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Space Force Base at 3:52 p.m. EDT (1952 GMT), as the Fram2 astronauts were driving out to their SpaceX launch site in sleek black Tesla sedans. One of them had a license plate that read "Fram2Go."

"We're gonna watch a rocket launch while on the way to a rocket launch," Fram2 mission commander Chun Wang wrote on X.

Once they arrive at SpaceX's launch facility at the Kennedy Space Center, they'll proceed to Pad 39A in their SpaceX-issue spacesuits for launch. Our livestream of the launch will begin at 8:46 p.m. EDT (0046 GMT).

Below are some photos of the Fram2 crew's launch dress rehearsal over the weekend, where they practiced walkout, Crew Dragon ingress and launch.