Polar Pioneers: A New View from Above

A group of four space travelers just made history by orbiting over Earth's north and south poles. This is a first for humans, and the pictures they're sending back are stunning. The journey began on March 31, 2025, when a SpaceX rocket blasted off from Florida, carrying the crew in a spacecraft named Resilience. This mission, called Fram2, is taking a unique path around the planet, flying over some of the most isolated places on Earth. The crew is led by Chun Wang, who funded the mission. Wang is joined by Jannicke Mikkelsen from Norway, Rabea Rogge from Germany, and Eric Phillips from Australia. They are the 681st people to fly above the Kármán line, which is the boundary of space, and the 626th to orbit Earth. Wang shared this milestone on a social media platform shortly after reaching orbit. Early on April 1, 2025, SpaceX released a video from the spacecraft's window, showing a polar region covered in white. The mission's name, Fram2, comes from a famous Norwegian ship that explored the Arctic and Antarctic in the early 1900s. The crew hopes to live up to this legacy with nearly two dozen science experiments. One of these is an attempt to grow mushrooms in space, and another is the first on-orbit X-rays of the human body. The crew will also study how microgravity affects the human body, focusing on the musculoskeletal system. This is a common area of research in space. The mission is expected to last two to four days. When it's over, Resilience will head back to Earth, aiming for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. This will be the first time a SpaceX crewed mission lands on the Pacific coast. The shift to Pacific landings is to reduce the risk of space debris causing damage or injury on the ground. The Fram2 mission is a big step in space exploration. It shows how private companies are playing a bigger role in space travel. The crew's journey is not just about reaching new heights but also about conducting important scientific research. The pictures and data they send back will help scientists better understand our planet and the effects of space travel on the human body.