Around the poles for days with the SpaceX team Berliner could be the first German woman in space

A dozen German men have already been into space - but no woman yet. This is now set to change with Rabea Rogge from Berlin. She wants to fly around the poles for days on end with a SpaceX team.

Keystone-SDA

31.03.2025, 06:14

31.03.2025, 06:16

SDA

Rabea Rogge from Berlin could become the first German woman in space. She wants to fly around the poles for days with a SpaceX team.

On board a "Dragon" capsule and with the help of a Falcon 9 rocket from tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk's SpaceX company, Rogge is due to take off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida on Tuesday morning Central European Summer Time. "I'm looking forward to launching with this incredible crew," wrote 29-year-old Rogge on the online platform X. However, the launch could be postponed at any time for a variety of reasons.

DLR: 12 German men and no women in space so far

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 mission called "Fram2" - named after a Norwegian polar research ship from the 19th century - is expected to last around four days. The "Dragon" capsule will fly in a new orbit over the Earth's polar regions. 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 also be taken.

Months of intensive preparation

For "Fram2", a billionaire has once again commissioned SpaceX to carry out a mission out of private interest - as has happened several times in the past. This time it was the Maltese Chun Wang, who has become rich with cryptocurrencies and is also flying along. The crew also includes filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen from Norway and polar guide Eric Philips from Australia.

Rogge met Chun Wang a few years ago during expedition training on Spitsbergen and talked to him about the cosmos, as she once recounted in an interview. The billionaire later asked her if she wanted to join him on his flight. The crew has been preparing for the flight with intensive training for months.