FRAM2: SpaceX’s first polar crewed launch, set to lift off next week

The crew of FRAM2, the first crewed spaceflight to fly over Earth’s poles, is set and ready to launch as soon as a week from today. The four crew members completed their training at SpaceX‘s Hawthorne offices and are now off to Cape Canaveral to enter quarantine before launch.

SpaceX shared Saturday that the crew of FRAM2, a private spaceflight mission paid for by Chinese crypto-billionaire Chun Wang, finished their crew training ahead of launch. Taking place at the company’s previous headquarters in Hawthorne, California, both Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn had training at this location before their flights. NASA astronauts also receive SpaceX-related training and suit checks at Hawthorne; however, most of their training for spaceflight operations takes place at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

This training is the final step in a year-long process to get the FRAM2 crew ready to fly to space and operate Crew Dragon if needed.

FRAM2 is SpaceX’s third private spaceflight mission, following Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn, which were purchased by soon-to-be NASA administrator and entrepreneur Jared Isaacman.

I’m using the term “private” to denote the difference between these missions and missions by Axiom Space, a company in the business of purchasing and operating these flights. FRAM2, Inspiration4, and Polaris Dawn were purchased by individuals versus a commercial entity.

The crew of FRAM2 consists of Wang, who serves as the mission’s commander; filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen as Vehicle Commander; robotics researcher Rabea Rogge as Pilot; and professional Arctic explorer Eric Philips as Mission Specialist and Medical Officer.

FRAM2 will perform roughly 22 experiments, mostly focused on human health and performance in space, during its three to five-day flight over Earth’s North and South Poles. This will be the first time a crewed spaceflight will take this southern trajectory. Previous flights were originally supposed to fly at higher inclined angles; however, to keep mission operations simple, they opted to copy the trajectory for NASA crewed flights.

One of the firsts FRAM2 plans to do while in space is to take the first X-RAY image of a human in space. Something you can expect to want to be able to do on flights to Mars. The crew will also grow mushrooms to see if they can become a useful space crop.

If FRAM2 launches when SpaceX expects it to on March 31, that will make it only 17 days since SpaceX launched NASA’s Crew-10 crew rotation to the ISS. This will mark the fastest turnaround time for a crewed launch, a third turnaround record broken by SpaceX in the month of March.

FRAM2 has backup days later into next week, including April 1, but we’ll need to get closer to the launch date before knowing how likely a March 31 launch really is. While the crew is ready and the Dragon and rocket are getting prepared, weather could still cause issues.