© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
After successfully launching the Fram2 mission, SpaceX has released the first-ever video of Earth’s polar region taken from space. The Resilience Crew Dragon capsule lifted off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying four astronauts on their first space mission.
The crew is led by Chun Wang, a Maltese entrepreneur and cryptocurrency mogul, with Jannicke Mikkelsen from Norway as the vehicle’s commander, Rabea Rogge from Germany as the pilot, and Eric Phillips from Australia serving as the medical officer. They will orbit Earth at an altitude of around 440 km, focusing on observing the northern and southern poles while carrying out several experiments.
The viral video uploaded by SpaceX shows the stunning, rugged landscape of Antarctica blanketed in thick layers of ice. Sharing the clip, the SpaceX CEO wrote, “This is the first time humans have been in orbit around the poles of Earth!”
Watch here:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1906952621467767137
With over 14 million views, the video has captivated several social media users. “I watched the launch from my porch tonight. I’ve seen hundreds, but tonight, heading south, was different. Felt different,” one of them wrote. “These updates from space are inspiring. They give humanity hope that the world can come together some day,” another user commented.
“All I can think of is all the interesting stuff frozen in time under that ice!!” a third user reacted.
For Fram2, SpaceX is using the Dragon spacecraft, which has been extensively deployed in human space missions like Crew-1, Inspiration4, and Polaris Dawn. The astronauts will carry out 22 research projects aimed at exploring human health in space. These studies include conducting the first-ever X-ray in space to examine muscle and bone mass, as well as growing mushrooms in microgravity.
