A crew of four international astronauts on a private spaceflight mission will soon seek to become the first humans to travel over Earth’s poles.

A SpaceX rocket carrying the Dragon capsule selected for the mission could get off the ground as early as Monday night from Florida. Aboard the Dragon will be the four spacefarers on a mission known as Fram2, which cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang is both financing and commanding.

Named for a Norwegian ship that traversed the North and South poles at the turn of the 20th century, the Fram2 mission seeks to pay homage to its namesake with a pioneering polar voyage of its own. If successful, Wang and the three others joining him for a 3-5 day trip orbiting Earth could make history as the first crew to view and film the Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit.

But the mission is far from a billionaire-funded joy ride through the cosmos.

Following in the footsteps of other commercial spaceflight ventures like last year’s Polaris Dawn mission, Fram2 states on its official website the crew’s drive to “unlock new possibilities for human spaceflight and provide a deeper understanding about our planet and its polar regions.”

Here’s everything to know about Fram2, its crew and how to watch its launch.

When is the Fram2 launch?

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is due to get off the ground Monday night, propelling the Fram2 crew members into orbit before their Dragon capsule separates to use its own thrusters to continue onward, according to SpaceX.

The launch is scheduled for 9:46 p.m. EDT from NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A at the space agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. If the rocket doesn’t lift off then, other launch opportunities exist within a four-and-a-half-hour window at 11:20 p.m. Monday, and 12:53 a.m. and 2:26 a.m. Tuesday, SpaceX said. If needed, backup opportunities are also available at the same times beginning Tuesday night.

Following liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage will attempt to land on a SpaceX droneship station in the Atlantic Ocean so it can be reused on future launches.

What is the Fram2 mission?

During the mission, the four astronauts aboard the Dragon will explore Earth from a polar orbit and fly over Earth’s polar regions for the first time.

Fittingly, the mission is named for a Norwegian ship that sailed on expeditions to the North and South poles in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The Fram (Norwegian for “forward”) made history at the time, traveling further north and south than any other vessel before it.

But the polar regions are notoriously difficult to spot from space.

Not only are the North and South Poles invisible to astronauts on the International Space Station, but to see them from a spacecraft requires a flight path that isn’t as close to the equator, as is the norm.

While NASA astronauts on the Apollo lunar missions were able to glimpse the poles from far away, only one other crewed mission has come close. In 1963, a Soviet-era mission known as Vostok 6 flew at a 65-degree orientation, which was the highest inclination achieved in human spaceflight.

For Fram2, the mission will aim to fly at a 90-degree circular orbit, meaning it will be exactly perpendicular to the equator.

While in orbit, the crew plans to observe Earth’s polar regions from about 267 miles above the ground – an altitude that will allow the Dragon to fly from the North Pole to the South Pole in just more than 46 minutes. The observations they record from the Dragon’s cupola could lend key insights to scientists studying unusual light emissions resembling auroras.

SpaceX to provide livestream of launch: How to watch

SpaceX will host a livestream of the launch that will begin about an hour before liftoff.

The webcast is available on its website and on social media platform X. Coverage will also be available on SpaceX’s on new X TV app.

Meet the crew of Fram2

Malta-based entrepreneur Chun Wang paid an undisclosed amount of money to bankroll the mission with SpaceX. Born in China, Wang built his fortune by co-founding f2pool and stakefish, which are among the largest Bitcoin mining pools.

He’ll serve as Fram2’s mission commander, leading a team of three other spacefarers:

• Jannicke Mikkelsen, who hails from Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, is the mission’s vehicle commander. Mikkelsen has a background as a film director and cinematographer.
• Rabea Rogge, a robotics researcher from Berlin, Germany is the mission pilot.
• Eric Philips, an Australian adventurer, is the mission specialist and medical officer.

The Fram2 mission will be the first spaceflight for all four crew members.

Mikkelsen, though, was part of a record-breaking polar circumnavigation flight in 2019. This time around, the Dragon capsule will fly 30 times faster around the Earth that the Gulfstream jet that Mikkelsen rode to set a Guinness World Record.

What will the Fram2 crew do in space?

Wang and his crew will conduct 22 experiments during the spaceflight related to human health and physiology while in orbit that will provide insights for future long-duration missions deep into the cosmos.

That includes capturing the first human X-ray images in space and growing mushrooms in microgravity to see if the food can be a viable crop in orbit. The astronauts will also exercise on the Dragon while studying blood flow restriction in an experiment to attempt to preserve muscle and bone mass.

“With the same pioneering spirit as early polar explorers, we aim to bring back new data and knowledge to advance the long-term goals of space exploration,” Wang said in a statement. “The science and research projects onboard will inform how we prepare for future missions, ultimately helping make space more accessible to us all.”

Dragon capsule previously flew Polaris Dawn mission

Fram2 aims to get off the ground on the heels of another historic commercial spaceflight known as Polaris Dawn.

In fact, the astronauts of Fram2 are due to travel on the same Dragon spacecraft that the Polaris Dawn crew rode to orbit in September for a five-day spaceflight. The Dragon vehicles, standing nearly 27 feet tall and about 13 feet wide, can accommodate up to seven astronauts, though most missions comprise a contingent of four.

The Polaris Dawn mission – capped off by a historic spacewalk featuring private astronauts – was also financed and commanded by a billionaire, Jared Isaacman, who is now President Donald Trump‘s pick to lead NASA.

How long will Fram2 orbit in space?

The Fram2 astronauts are due to spend up to five days in orbit before landing off the coast of California.

Most crewed space launches send astronauts to dock at the International Space Station, where their return to Earth can safely be delayed and rescheduled as needed, as famously just became the case for the Boeing Starliner astronauts. The space station is well-provisioned, and even uncrewed spacecraft routinely launch on resupply missions.

But in the case of the Fram2 mission, the crew members will be entirely reliant on the oxygen and supplies they have stored on the spacecraft. For that reason, SpaceX will take extra precautions before launch to ensure the Dragon will have a safe trip back into Earth’s atmosphere.

Contributing: Brooke Edwards, Florida Today

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]