A SpaceX capsule is set to carry four amateur astronauts over the Earth’s poles for the first time in history.
The historic flight is slated to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a 4.5-hour window that will begin at 8:46 p.m. CT Monday. The first-of-its-kind flight is being funded by cryptocurrency billionaire Chung Wang, who will also be aboard the shuttle.
The exact price tag to bankroll the space mission was not disclosed. Wang will be joined by three other individuals: German robotics researcher Rabea Rogge, Norwegian film director Jannicke Mikkelsen, and Australian polar explorer and adventurer Eric Philips. The mission will be the first time any of the four crew members will have been to space.
“My own journey has been shaped by lifelong curiosity and the fascination with pushing boundaries,” Chun said during a Spaces event on X on March 28, per CNN.
While some have come close, no humans have traveled directly over the Earth’s poles from space. The mission is substantially more fuel-intensive than a typical circling of the planet since the craft will not benefit from the orbits closer to the equator.
In 1963, a Soviet-led space mission was the last time anyone came close to following the path over the poles. However, during that mission over six decades ago, the Vostok 6 spaceflight approached the poles at a 65-degree inclination. Fram2, on the other hand, aims to hit the pole straight on at 90 degrees. That means the SpaceX capsule will travel perpendicular to the equator.
Fram2 will spend three to five days in space before returning home. The crew members will participate in 22 science and research experiments, like helping researchers better understand the impact of weightlessness on sleep.
Dr. Mark Rosenberg, a neurologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, suspects the lack of gravity negatively impacts slumber.
“One, your body isn’t used to being in microgravity. And so for that reason, it probably is challenging for it to get comfortable at first,” Rosenberg told CNN.
“The second reason is that constant bombardment of visual stimuli from the orbit. A day in orbit is 90 minutes, and so that circadian dysregulation is definitely going to play a role with how you’re able to sleep.”