All articles tagged with #fram2
Four first-time astronauts aboard SpaceX Fram2 used a portable X-ray unit with roughly four hours of training to capture diagnostic images in orbit; three radiologists on the ground judged the images clinically usable to identify fractures or foreign objects, marking the first in-space diagnostic X-rays and highlighting portable imaging as a key tool for future deep-space missions where hospital care is unreachable.
The Fram2 mission aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon achieved the first in-space X-rays. Four crew members, with about four hours of training, used a portable X-ray device to image a smartwatch, a hand, an abdomen, a pelvis, and a chest in orbit. The resulting images were good enough to aid injury diagnosis and hardware checks, and the device survived launch and re-entry with minimal damage. Experts say portable, rugged, compact X-ray systems could boost crew health care on future missions and even improve medical access on Earth in rural areas; researchers aim to further shrink and harden the technology. The study was published in Radiology on July 14.
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.