SpaceX plans to launch the Fram2 astronaut mission over Earth’s poles tonight (March 31), and you can watch the action live.
Fram2’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule are scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida tonight at 9:46 p.m. EDT (0146 GMT on April 1). If that timeline isn’t met, there are three additional opportunities available over the next roughly 4.5 hours, at 11:20 p.m. EDT (0320 GMT), 12:53 a.m. EDT (0453 GMT) and 2:26 a.m EDT (0626 GMT).
SpaceX will stream the launch live via its website and X account, beginning about an hour before liftoff. Space.com will air the webcast as well if the company makes it available.
Fram2 will send four people from four different nations to low Earth orbit for three to five days. Those crewmembers — all of them spaceflight rookies — are mission commander Chun Wang of Malta, vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway, pilot Rabea Rogge of Germany, and Australian Eric Phillips, Fram2’s medical officer and mission specialist.
Related: Meet the astronauts of SpaceX’s Fram2 mission, the 1st to fly over Earth’s poles
The quartet will circle our planet over both of its poles — a trajectory no human spaceflight mission has ever taken before. Fram2 will also break ground with several of its 22 science experiments. For example, the mission will attempt to grow mushrooms and take X-rays of the human body in orbit for the first time.
“Additionally, after safely returning to Earth, the crew plans to exit from the Dragon spacecraft without additional medical and operational assistance, helping researchers characterize the ability of astronauts to perform unassisted functional tasks after short and long durations in space,” SpaceX wrote in a Fram2 mission description.
Fram2 will be SpaceX’s 17th human spaceflight overall and the sixth conducted for private customers. Among the company’s other commercial human flights were Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn, both of which were funded and commanded by Jared Isaacman, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next NASA chief.
SpaceX’s 11 other crewed missions to date have been voyages to and from the International Space Station for NASA.
