Crew Dragon set off on its first orbital flight over the poles of the Earth

The Crew Dragon manned spacecraft of the SpaceX company of American entrepreneur Elon Musk launched for an orbital flight over the poles of the Earth. This was announced on April 1 by the company on its page on the social network X (ex. Twitter), where the broadcast of the launch was published.

The launch was carried out from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It is noted that the flight itself will take place at an altitude of about 440 km and will last several days.

In addition, astronauts will conduct more than 20 scientific experiments and studies during spaceflight to test reactions to the disorienting environment of microgravity. Also, as part of the Fram2 mission, shots will be taken at the south and north poles of the planet.

The crew includes Maltese businessman and researcher Chun Wang, the first female astronaut from Germany, Rabea Rogge, Australian researcher Eric Philips and Norwegian filmmaker Yannike Mikkelsen.

According to CNN, the Soviet ship Vostok-6 made a similar flight to the poles for the first time in 1963, but its tilt angle was 65 degrees, and Crew Dragon is planned to have 90 degrees.

On March 19, the Crew Dragon Freedom spacecraft carrying Russian Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov successfully landed off the coast of Florida. The crew of the Crew-9 mission landed at 00:57 Moscow time. In addition to Gorbunov, astronauts Nick Hague, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to Earth.