Image credit: Fram2/Inside Outer Space screengrab
That first-ever pole to pole orbital voyage of the Fram2 crew continues to go well.
Entrepreneur Chun Wang, mission commander, is posting video and images and commentary regarding the flight. He is joined by three others, Australian adventurer Eric Philips, filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen, and German robotics researcher Rabea Rogge.
Image credit: Fram2/Inside Outer Space screengrab
In an X posting Wang said the ride to orbit was much smoother than he had anticipated. “Apart from the final minute before SECO, I barely felt any G-forces—it honestly felt like just another flight.”
Wang said he had imagined it would feel like being in an elevator that suddenly drops, but that sensation never came. “If I hadn’t set free Tyler, the polar bear zero-gravity indicator, I might not have realized we were already weightless. I think being tightly strapped into our seat buckets made the transition less noticeable.”
Image credit: Fram2/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Space motion sickness
The first few hours in microgravity weren’t exactly comfortable for the Fram2 crew.
“Space motion sickness hit all of us—we felt nauseous and ended up vomiting a couple of times. It felt different from motion sickness in a car or at sea. You could still read on your iPad without making it worse. But even a small sip of water could upset your stomach and trigger vomiting,” Wang explains.
Image credit: SpaceX
Movie night
“Rabea spent some time on the ham radio, making contact with Berlin. No one asked opening the cupola on the first day—we were all focused on managing the motion sickness. We had a movie night watching our own launch and went to sleep a bit earlier than scheduled. We all slept really well.”
Image credit: Fram2
Wang added that by the second morning, he felt completely refreshed.
“The trace of motion sickness is all gone. We had breakfast, took a few X-ray images, and opened the cupola three minutes after midnight UTC—right above the South Pole.”
To view video from onboard the Fram2, go to:
https://x.com/satofishi/status/1907345866421395867
https://x.com/satofishi/status/1907225381721227312
Australian adventurer Eric Philips takes a space walk across Dragon cupola.
Image credit: Fram2/Inside Outer Space screengrab