TAWONGA South resident and former Timbertop teacher Eric Philips OAM is back on Earth after becoming the first Australian in space under our nation’s flag. The polar explorer and adventure guide safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California early on Saturday April 5, aboard a SpaceX capsule. The capsule had launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida last Tuesday afternoon as part of the private Fram2 mission, funded by cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang who was the mission commander, accompanied by fellow crew members Norwegian film director Jannicke Mikkelsen (vehicle commander) and German robotics researcher Rabea Rogge (pilot). The spaceflight rookies spent four days orbiting the Earth’s poles - the first time humans had flown such a mission over the north and south pole - passing the poles every 46 minutes. Mr Philips, who was the medical officer and mission specialist, told the Alpine Observer prior to the flight, that becoming the fourth Australian to go into space was something he thought would never happen. “I’ve been a polar explorer for 35 years and have always dreamed of being an astronaut but this certainly wasn’t something that has been in the works in terms of my life trajectory,” he said. “I saw the first moon landing live on television and come from that era of being super inspired by early space travel but I never had the concept it would happen for me. “I felt the need to explore and adventure as a kid and have since led, guided and pioneered many expeditions through the Arctic Circle, Greenland, Antarctica and Patagonia. “When this invitation came up (from Chun) to join a space mission, I jumped at it.” Crew members carried out more than 20 experiments during the mission, including the first attempt to grow mushrooms in space, capturing the first on-orbit X-rays of the human body, and investigating the effects of microgravity on the human musculoskeletal system during spaceflight. Back on Earth, Mr Philips told the Sunday Project that floating in the no gravity environment was amazing, but he felt like he weighed 1000 pounds when he landed back on Earth and walked from the capsule. He said the experiments had looked at space travel’s effects on the human body and that the nutrition experiment indicated mushrooms will grow in space. Fram2 was SpaceX’s 17th human spaceflight overall, and the sixth launched for private customers.
