First German woman launched into space thanks to crypto billionaire
By Christina Horsten and Wolfgang Jung
Cape Canaveral (USA) - Rabea Rogge (29) from Berlin has become the first German woman to be launched into space .
On board a "Dragon" capsule, Rogge lifted off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida, as seen on live images. The launch took place with a Falcon 9 rocket from tech billionaire Elon Musk 's (53) aerospace company SpaceX.
"Fram2" - named after a Norwegian polar research ship from the 19th century - will fly over the Earth's polar regions in a new orbit for around four days. Among other things, celestial lights are to be examined from an altitude of 425 to 450 kilometers and, according to SpaceX, the first X-ray images of humans in space could be taken. According to SpaceX, a total of 22 scientific studies are to be carried out.
For the mission called "Fram2", a billionaire has once again commissioned SpaceX to carry out a space flight out of private interest. This time it was the Chinese-born Maltese Chun Wang (42), who became rich with cryptocurrencies and is also on board. Rogge had once met the billionaire during an expedition training on Spitsbergen. He later asked her if she wanted to join him on the flight.
In addition to Rogge, the crew also includes filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen (38) from Norway and polar guide Eric Philips (62) from Australia. They have been preparing for the mission for months with intensive training.
Crew has no trained astronaut with them
"Our crew is strong, our training intensive and our goal is not only to overcome boundaries, but also to create new opportunities for space travel and science ," Rogge told the German Press Agency in advance.
After "Inspiration4" in 2021 and "Polaris Dawn" in 2024 - both also carried out by SpaceX - this is the third space trip with a crew that does not include a trained astronaut. According to Rogge, one of them does not even have a pilot's license. "It's now about making space travel more accessible instead of seeing it as exclusive. This is the only way we can plan new, even more interesting space missions and push the boundaries."
According to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), twelve German men but no German women have been into space so far. Although there have been several female candidates and reserve space travelers, no woman has ever actually flown.
The 29-year-old Rogge is officially involved in the "Fram2" mission as a scientific specialist. She studied electrical engineering and information technology at ETH Zurich. She moved to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology for her doctoral thesis.