Cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang and his Fram2 crew of private astronauts got a two-for-one deal this week when they watched a SpaceX rocket lift off just hours before their own launch into space.
Wang launched into orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Monday night (March 31), leading his four-person Fram2 crew on the world's first astronaut flight over Earth's poles. But about hours before their evening liftoff from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Fram2 astronauts got a special show: another SpaceX rocket launching Starlink satellites into orbit.
We’re gonna watch a rocket launch while on our way to a rocket launch. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/G1IfJdGt1fMarch 31, 2025
"We’re gonna watch a rocket launch while on our way to a rocket launch," Wang wrote on social media as his crew drove to their Cape Canaveral launch site in black Tesla sedans. (The license plate on one read "Fram2Go.") He also shared a video of his view of the SpaceX Starlink launch as it soared over the Clint Hurdle baseball field of Merritt Island High School after lifting off from the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX launched 28 Starlink internet satellites on the Falcon 9 rocket Monday afternoon. About six hours later, Wang and his crew were strapping into their Crew Dragon Resilience spacecraft atop their own Falcon 9.
Staying true to form, Wang posted a video of his setup on social media, too.
L-2h05mSide hatch closed. We are go for launch. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/EGcvYFRKVxMarch 31, 2025
"Side hatch closed. We are go for launch," Wang wrote on X.
Wang's Fram2 mission is a private spaceflight financed by Wang himself to explore Earth's poles and conduct experiments. The crew includes vehicle commander Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway, pilot Rabea Rogge of Germany, and Australian Eric Phillips, Fram2's medical officer. They'll spend up to five days in space before returning to Earth.
