The first astronauts to ever orbit over Earth's north and south poles have safely returned to Earth. SpaceX Dragon (Resilience) splashed down today on April 4 at 1618 UTC parachuting down into the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Oceanside, California.

The return concluded SpaceX's private Fram2 mission after the astronauts spent about three and half days spent in space. "We have confirmation of splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft. Dragon has returned home with the Fram2 crew," SpaceX officials said on the mission's livestream.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Fram2 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, March 31. Maltese cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang funded the mission, and served as its commander. He is joined by fellow polar explorers Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway; Rabea Rogge, from Germany, and Australian Eric Philips.

SpaceX's Dragon recovery ship Shannon intercepted Resilience following splashdown, where an onboard crane lifted the spacecraft onto the deck where the astronauts disembarked. Upon landing, the crew has foregone the usual medical and mobility assistance utilized by astronauts following spaceflight, and will assess their own strength as their bodies reacclimate to gravity unaided.

The crew will helicopter to shore, where they will begin an hour of balancing and coordination testing. Shortly after, the Fram2 astronauts will undergo brain imaging scans using a portable MRI machine. Then, after a restful night's sleep, the crew will spend another two days dedicated to their on-orbit research using a high resolution bone scanner at NASA's Johnson Space Center, in Houston.

Fram2 crew was sent into a north-to-south trajectory in low-Earth orbit at an altitude of about 437 kilometers. The "Framonauts" spent the past three days documenting and sharing pictures and videos of their views from space.

"I often say Fram2 is a Svalbard mission," Wang wrote on X. "We @framonauts all met on Svalbard, and we love the ice. The mission was planned when I lived there, and we fly polar because, in an ISS-like orbit, we are unable to see where we live. From this perspective, the mission has perfectly achieved its goal."

During their time in space aboard Resilience, Fram2 crew conducted a total of 22 science experiments including one that captured the first X-ray of a human in space. Another, called MushVroom, was aimed at studying how mushrooms grow in a microgravity environment.

The final pieces of research are being conducted to investigate the Framonauts' recovery following their time spent in microgravity.

Fram2 is SpaceX's first astronaut mission to land in the Pacific Ocean. Previous missions have all splashed down off the coats of Florida, but the company has begun shifting those returns to the West Coast to minimize the chance of debris from Crew Dragon's expendable trunk module surviving atmospheric reentry and damaging property or causing injury should pieces of the spacecraft crash back down to Earth.

In a speech dubbed "Liberation Day," at the White House Rose Garden Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a 10% global baseline tariff on all imports to the United States, with higher reciprocal tariffs for countries deemed to have higher trade barriers against the U.S. He said that the tariffs are intended to correct years of "unfair" trade and fulfill his America First agenda.

A 10% baseline tariff will be imposed on all countries, with higher rates for "worst offenders" at 50% of what they tax American goods. The tariffs are set to go into effect on April 5 at 12:01 a.m. ET, with individualized higher tariffs taking effect on April 9 at 12:01 a.m. ET.

Canada and Mexico are exempt from the new 10% global tariff rate, maintaining existing tariffs related to border control and fentanyl trafficking issues under the USMCA trade agreement.

Trump declared the tariffs would spark a "golden age" for America, stating, "My fellow Americans, this is liberation day: April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again, going to make it wealthy, good and wealthy."

The U.S. president accused other nations of "looting, pillaging, raping, and plundering" the U.S. for decades, both friend and foe alike. He urged foreign leaders to terminate their own tariffs, drop barriers, and stop currency manipulation.

Trump encouraged companies to move production to the U.S. to avoid tariffs, stating, "If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product in America."

The announcement led to a significant drop in U.S. stock futures, with Dow futures falling more than 1,000 points, S&P 500 futures dropping 3.40%, and Nasdaq 100 futures sinking 4.22%.

Trump said that globalists, outsourcers, special interests, and "Fake News" will be outraged after his announcement of reciprocal tariffs on countries that have been exploiting the U.S. for decades. The president pointed out that America was once a wealthy nation funding the government with tariffs—until 1913, when income tax was introduced, leading to the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve was also established in 1913.

The Trump tariff announcement is popular among conservatives and the working class across the country who wish to bring back manufacturing jobs to the U.S.