First crewed mission in polar orbit

The first crewed spaceflight to launch into a polar orbit was Fram2, a private exploration mission operated by SpaceX (USA) and crewed by Chun Wang (Malta, b. China), Jannicke Mikkelsen (Norway), Rabea Rogge (Germany) and Eric Philips (Australia). It launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, on 1 April 2025 and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California, USA, on 4 April 2025 (UTC).

A polar orbit is one that sees the spacecraft loop around the Earth perpendicular to the equator, passing over both poles. In spaceflight terminology, it's a orbit with an inclination of 90 degrees (an orbit that follows the equator, by contrast, would have an inclination of 0 degrees). The previous record holder for the highest inclination crewed spaceflight was Vostok 6 in 1963, which was deployed into a 65-degree orbit. The International Space Station has an orbital inclination of 51 degrees, which is typical for modern crewed space missions.

Polar orbits are commonly used by uncrewed spacecraft, most notably cartography and reconnaissance (spy) satellites. This is because the position of the orbital path remains fixed while the planet rotates beneath it, allowing the spacecraft to overfly the entire surface of Earth every couple of days.

High inclination orbits have not been previously used in crewed missions for a few reasons. The main ones are that getting something into a polar orbit requires more energy, meaning more fuel and a lighter payload; it also makes communication with ground-based control centres more difficult and complicates any potential emergency landing. In addition to those factors, solar radiation levels are also higher around the poles, meaning that long-duration missions could pose a health risk.

The Fram2 mission was proposed and funded by Chinese-born cryptocurrency entrepreneur Chun Wang, who has long had a fascination with travel and polar exploration (he lives most of the year in Longyearbyen, the largest town on Norway's remote Svalbard archipelago). The other members of his crew include Norwegian cinematographer Jannicke Mikkelsen – who served as the spacecraft commander, German engineer Rabea Rogge and Australian polar explorer Eric Philips.