First German woman set to fly into space with SpaceX

The first German woman is set to fly into space on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with four other astronauts, the private space exploration company said on Wednesday.

Rabea Rogge was introduced by SpaceX as a "robotics researcher" who studied electrical engineering and information technology at ETH Zurich. For her doctoral thesis, she transferred to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The mission, called Fram2, is going to be the first human spaceflight over the Earth's poles. The company said the flight will take place "no earlier than late 2024."

No German woman has ever been to space, according to the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Rogge said she felt incredibly honored for being selected to take part in the mission.

"I'm really looking forward to being responsible for the research and getting some cool projects off the ground," she said on X.

During the multi-day flight, the team of astronauts will look at the Earth's polar regions and examine purple lights, known as "Steve" and similar to northern lights, at the altitude of 425 to 450 kilometers (264-280 miles).

SpaceX said the mission will also produce the first X-ray images of humans in space.

Private space tourism on the rise

The upcoming mission is the latest foray by the aerospace industry into private space tourism, which has grown fast in the United States in recent years.

Wealthy bitcoin pioneer Chun Wang has booked the mission and will be taking part in it.

"From mission proposal, planning, trajectory design, to crew selection, everything has been done by the customer," Wang said in a post on X.

Next to Rogge and Wang, the other "international adventurers" are the Norwegian filmmaker Jannicke Mikkelsen and Australian polar explorer Eric Philips.

SpaceX has flown 13 manned missions in the last four years. It carries NASA astronauts to the International space station ISS, but has also carried out several space tourism missions, including the first in 2021, named Inspiration4. That mission was financed by American billionaire Jared Isaacman.

ch/dj (AFP, dpa)