Chun Wang, the co-founder of Bitcoin mining pool f2pool and a well-known figure in the Bitcoin community, is set to command SpaceX’s first human spaceflight mission to explore Earth’s polar regions from orbit. Wang, who began mining Bitcoin back in 2011, said he has been eagerly preparing for this mission for the past 2.5 years and has been involved in every aspect of the mission, from the initial proposal and planning to the trajectory design and crew selection.

“Named in honor of the ship that helped explorers first reach Earth’s Arctic and Antarctic regions, Fram2 will be commanded by Chun Wang, an entrepreneur and adventurer from Malta,” SpaceX announced. “Wang aims to use the mission to highlight the crew’s explorational spirit, bring a sense of wonder and curiosity to the larger public, and highlight how technology can help push the boundaries of exploration of Earth and through the mission’s research.”

Fram2 will become the first human spaceflight mission to fly over and explore the Earth’s polar regions from orbit. Learn more about the @framonauts mission here → https://t.co/3InB5ybsIx pic.twitter.com/rZ2PCw0GlX

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 12, 2024

“This mission represents a new chapter in space exploration,” said Wang. “I’ve read many sci-fi stories about the first human missions to Mars, usually led by NASA or some fictional government. Rarely does anyone dare to imagine such a mission may be carried out privately. But now, I increasingly believe that someday we will reach Mars — and it may be a person, or a company, not a nation, who gets there.”

Please allow me to quote Steve Jobs’s original iPhone announcement in 2007: “This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two-and-a-half years. Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.”

Yes, I’ve been looking forward to this mission…

— Chun (@satofishi) August 13, 2024

Joining Wang on this mission is an international team of adventurers, including Norway’s Jannicke Mikkelsen, Australia’s Eric Philips, and Germany’s Rabea Rogge. Over the course of 3 to 5 days, the crew will observe the polar regions from Dragon’s cupola at an altitude of 425 to 450 km. They will study phenomena such as auroras and unusual light emissions, known as STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement), and conduct a variety of research to better understand the effects of spaceflight on the human body, to gain insights into space physics and atmospheric science.