A SpaceX rocket took off Monday evening from Florida, the first trip to put humans on an orbit that takes them to the two centers of the earth.
A spaceship in orbit around the posts can observe the whole planet as it turns below. The path is particularly useful for weather, cartography and espionage satellites. With many of these satellites already in an almost polar polar orbit, the researchers said that a mission sending humans around the poles was not particularly remarkable from a scientific point of view.
However, the mission, which says SpaceX, will last three to five days, has drawn a certain attention. He was funded by Chun Wang, an investor who made a fortune in the blockchain and the extraction of the cryptocurrency.
Mr. Wang paid an undisclosed amount and selected three people to accompany him. During the mission, called FRAM2, the four private astronauts in orbit around 270 miles above the earth in their spacecraft of Dragon Spacex, passing over the north and south poles several times a day.
Mr. Wang, 42, was born in Tianjin, China, and has become a citizen of Malta In 2023. Its space combination bears the malta flag.
FRAM2 said in a statement that the launch could “unlock new possibilities for human space flight and provide more in -depth understanding of our planet and its polar regions”.
Although it can offer some ideas, “it is the Moulin race as far as I can see,” said Dr. Bledyn Bowen, an associate professor in astrropolitics at the University of Durham in England. Human space flights were still looking for new discoveries, he said, and for launch operators in Florida, the mission was more practical for managing a polar launch.
What was more interesting, said Dr. Bowen was the mission crew. “Human space flight is a silver pit,” he said, adding that thefts were often funded by wealthy people who believed in space travel. But there are still questions about the question of whether the commercial interest in space trips could support, for example, a commercial space station, he said.
“Is this theft really the beginning of a very specific type of sustained demand from ultra rich in the world?” He asked. “Or is it something that will happen several times and that interest will go out?”
THE Other crew members are Jannicke Mikkelsen, a Norwegian filmmaker; RABEA ROGGE, Robotics researcher from Germany; And Eric Philips, an Australian explorer specializing in expeditions in polar regions.
Mr. Wang appointed the mission after the FRAM, a Norwegian ship This explored the Arctic in the 19th century.
At the end of the flight, the dragon spacecraft should splash off the coasts of southern California, SpaceX said. The company has already taken private astronauts into space, especially in a mission last year by billionaire Jared Isaacman.
Blue Origin, a rival company held by Jeff Bezos, pilot of private astronauts on short suborbital trips in space since 2021. His next flight is expected to be launched on April 14 with a fully female team, including the Gayle King TV journalist and singer Katy Perry.
