Fram2 achieves first human polar orbit, a private milestone for SpaceX and spaceflight

In late March 2025, four private astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Fram2 mission launched from Florida on Crew Dragon Resilience and reached a true polar orbit of about 430 km, tilting 90 degrees to the equator to fly directly over both poles on every orbit—the first time humans have followed such a path in more than six decades of crewed spaceflight. Led by Chun Wang, with Jannicke Mikkelsen, Rabea Rogge, and Eric Philips, the private mission focused on Earth observations and health/space-tech research, demonstrating that private crews can undertake orbital geometry milestones without a space station as a destination.