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Rabea Rogge, LB9NJ/KD3AID, a private astronaut aboard the groundbreaking Fram2 mission, just became the first person to use amateur radio from a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The Fram2 mission is making history in several ways—not only is it the first-ever crewed polar orbit around Earth, but Rogge is also now officially the first German woman in space.
Cryptocurrency billionaire and Fram2 mission commander Chun Wang shared the exciting news on X (formerly Twitter), noting, “Rabea spent some time on the ham radio, making contact with Berlin.”
Rogge used a battery-powered Icom IC-705 radio to talk directly with the DK0TU amateur radio club at Berlin’s Technical University. This marks a key moment because the International Space Station (ISS)—which has been the main platform for amateur radio space communications—is expected to retire within the next five years. The Fram2 mission proves that SpaceX spacecraft could become the next big platform for amateur radio contacts in orbit.
But voice communication isn’t the only exciting part of the mission. Rogge is also running an SSTV (Slow-Scan Television) event called “Fram2Ham,” where she sends images from polar regions broken into digital puzzle pieces. Students participating in Fram2Ham will receive and piece together these images to identify historically significant polar locations.
The competition is geared toward high school and university students, encouraging international collaboration. Anyone with the right equipment can receive the SSTV images on frequency 437.550 MHz, formatted in Robot 36. Because the contest involves solving puzzles, organizers are asking participants not to share images publicly until after the event wraps up.
Fram2’s journey started late Monday evening, successfully launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the U.S. East Coast. Rogge’s historic amateur radio transmission came just a few hours later around 9:30 AM Berlin time.
If you’d like to take part in the excitement, visit fram2ham.com for full details on participation and Doppler correction tables available from ARISS.
This mission opens a new chapter for amateur radio, combining space exploration with educational outreach and showcasing innovation in space communications.
