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Cryptocurrency billionaire watches SpaceX rocket launch on the way to his own SpaceX rocket launch

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.

The four private Fram2 astronauts inside their SpaceX Dragon capsule in their black and white spacesuits

Fram2 mission commander and financier Chun Wang (right) and his crew inside their SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. From left are: Eric Phillips of Australia, Rabea Rogge of Germany and Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway. (Image credit: SpaceX)

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.

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Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.

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