Cryptocurrency investor Chun Wang has recently backed an innovative private space expedition aboard a SpaceX spacecraft that traversed both the North and South Poles — a historic first for human space travel. Alongside fellow crew members Jannicke Mikkelsen, Rabea Rogge, and Eric Philips, Wang took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 31 in a SpaceX Dragon capsule propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket.
From 260 miles above the Earth, Wang anticipated catching glimpses of human activity in the polar areas. Instead, he encountered a vast, unbroken sheet of white ice. “I believe that 60 or 70 percent of the time I casually glance out the window, I see white,” Wang remarked in a video shared on X (formerly Twitter), the social media platform created by SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Despite the stark and desolate scenery, the crew discovered a certain beauty in the icy emptiness. “That’s incredibly epic, as it represents yet another type of desert,” stated Rogge. “It just continues endlessly — all the white. So stunning.”
The mission, named Fram2 after the 19th-century vessel utilized by polar explorers, is anticipated to span between three to five days. The Dragon capsule journeys from pole to pole in just over 46 minutes and orbits the Earth roughly every 90 minutes — about 30 times quicker than the 2019 One More Orbit mission, which earned a Guinness World Record for circumnavigating the globe in a Gulfstream G650ER. Mikkelsen, one of the Fram2 astronauts, also took part in that significant flight.
Although the crew did not spot any structures or infrastructure from space, they noted indirect indicators of human influence, including the consequences of climate change on the polar ice caps. Wang even recorded a segment of Antarctica he explored on foot in 2013, highlighting the area’s volcanic characteristics.
In contrast to the International Space Station, which orbits west to east and doesn’t cross over the poles, the Fram2 mission’s polar orbit provides a unique perspective of Earth’s extremes. Before this, the closest any spaceflight had navigated to the poles was through the Soviet Vostok 6 mission, which achieved a latitude of 65 degrees north.
Although this is the inaugural human mission to fly directly over both poles in space, polar orbits are frequently utilized by satellites for weather observation and reconnaissance.
The journey has not been free of obstacles. In a mission update, Wang mentioned that the crew faced nausea and motion sickness during their initial hours in microgravity. “Even a minor sip of water could disturb your stomach and induce vomiting,” he expressed. Fortunately, by the next morning, these symptoms had mostly dissipated.
Throughout their time in orbit, the Fram2 crew plans to conduct nearly two dozen scientific experiments. They also aspire to observe atmospheric phenomena akin to auroras — glowing green and soft purple light emissions in the upper atmosphere.
This mission signifies another achievement for private space exploration, expanding the boundaries of where civilians can journey and what they can witness from space.