SpaceX's historic Fram2 mission to the polar orbit, which took off last week, was caught in an aurora by a researcher at the German Antarctic research station Neumayer III. Fram2 was the first crewed space mission in history to have orbited the Earth at its poles as part of an effort to conduct scientific research primarily geared towards long-duration human spaceflight missions. The crew spent three days in orbit and landed on Earth on Friday in the Pacific Ocean. Their splashdown marked the first time that SpaceX recovered a Crew Dragon from the West Coast.
SpaceX's Polar Crew Dragon Mission Caught As A Streak Of Light Flying In An Aurora
The Fram2 crew's splashdown on Friday was historic in several aspects. Firstly, it marked the end of the first successful human spaceflight mission to the Earth's polar. Secondly, the splashdown was also the first crewed Dragon recovery on the West Coast. SpaceX prefers the East Coast for its splashdowns due to the facility's proximity to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where astronauts generally spend their post-flight time.
Finally, the mission was also the first in which astronauts exited the Crew Dragon without assistance from SpaceX's recovery teams. Their exit was key to evaluating the impact of short term spaceflight on the human body as NASA astronauts who spend months on the ISS have to be recovered by the external teams due to space-induced changes to their bodies.
SpaceX had to make several changes to its ship software and Falcon 9 launch profile to accommodate the new mission. These included updating the ship's software to ensure that it would splash down in the water in case of a post-launch emergency abort and a shorter boostback burn for the Falcon 9 rocket due to the mission's launch trajectory.
.@framonauts over Antarctica, seen from Neumayer Station III.
Credit: https://t.co/k41FMieSKE @ IG pic.twitter.com/s7UxAcTdjC
— Chun (@satofishi) April 7, 2025
While the Fram2 crew were in orbit, their journey was captured by a researcher working on the German Antarctic research station Neumayer III. He shared the images on Instagram, with the Crew Dragon visible in each of them as a bright streak of light.
In the first image, the ship is visible in the upper half in the middle as a bright streak of light. In the second image, which zooms into the spacecraft, the ship is visible as a longer streak of light, also located close to the image's center. The ship's the hardest to spot in the third image, which captures the horizon as well. According to the photographer, while the first and second images capture the Dragon's ascent and zenith, the third image captures the descent. As a result, the ship is visible as a "thin vertical line" in the center.
The Fram2 launch marked SpaceX's 50th Dragon mission with the astronauts flying the ship's 17th crewed mission overall. Polar film producer Jannicke Mikkelsen was also in the ship and plans to share visuals of her voyage soon.
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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