SpaceX leads first private mission over Earth's poles
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, taking private astronauts on the first orbital flight over Earth's poles as part of the Fram-9 mission.
The rocket launched from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral on Monday as planned, and after deploying the Dragon capsule with the astronauts into orbit, it landed on a ship's platform.
The first commercial orbital flight over the poles
An international team of four private astronauts will embark on an almost four-day flight, for the first time orbiting over Earth's poles. This will be the third fully private spaceflight organized by SpaceX.
According to the company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, the crew will also conduct 22 scientific experiments during the mission aimed at "bringing back new data and knowledge to advance the long-term goals of space exploration."
This includes taking the first X-ray images in space, conducting exercises to maintain muscle and skeletal mass, and cultivating fungi in microgravity conditions.
The team consists of Chun Wang, a Chinese cryptocurrency investor with a Maltese passport, Jannicke Mikkelsen, a Norwegian film director, Rabea Rogge, a German researcher, and Eric Philips, an Australian explorer.
