Cape Canaveral, April 01, 2025 – The Europe Today: Rabea Rogge made history on Monday as the first German woman to travel to space, launching aboard a SpaceX rocket on the first-ever crewed mission to fly directly over Earth’s polar regions.
The mission, known as Fram2, was a privately funded orbital flight, lifting off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 9:46 PM ET (0146 GMT Tuesday) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Cheers erupted in SpaceX’s control room as the powerful rocket soared toward Earth’s North and South Poles, marking a significant milestone in space exploration.
The Fram2 mission sent four private astronauts into polar orbit, a path no human has traveled before. The mission is led by Chinese-born Maltese entrepreneur Chun Wang, and the crew includes Norwegian filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen, Australian polar guide Eric Philips, and Rogge, a robotics researcher.
Fram2, named after the famous Norwegian ship from the 19th century, aims to conduct groundbreaking experiments, including the first human X-ray in space and mushroom cultivation in microgravity. Upon returning to Earth, the crew intends to exit the spacecraft without additional medical assistance to help researchers assess astronauts’ ability to perform basic tasks post-spaceflight.
The mission’s crew underwent eight months of rigorous training, including an expedition to Alaska to simulate life in close quarters under extreme conditions. This polar orbit provides a unique opportunity for global Earth observation and is typically used for climate and reconnaissance satellites.
This historic mission marks the first time astronauts have flown directly over both poles in the 64 years of human spaceflight.
