SpaceX's private Fram2 crew returns to Earth after polar-orbiting mission

5/4/2025 6:20

Four private astronauts returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule on Friday after roughly four days orbiting the planet in a novel polar trajectory, walking out of their spacecraft with little assistance to cap off the Elon Musk-led company's sixth fully private space mission.



Since launching Monday night from Florida, the four-person crew, led by and paid for by Maltese investor Chun Wang, traveled in a circular orbit around Earth from pole to pole, passing over the icy masses every 40 or so minutes in a particular orbit that no humans have flown before.



During the mission, they conducted 22 research experiments largely focused on how the human body changes in microgravity.



The four-person crew included three of Wang's friends and associates: Norwegian film director Jannicke Mikkelsen, German robotics researcher and polar scientist Rabea Rogge, and Australian adventurer Eric Philips.