TLDR
- F2Pool co-founder Chun Wang has been named Mission Commander for SpaceX’s first commercial human spaceflight to Mars.
- The mission is a two-year journey that includes a lunar flyby and a Mars flyby before returning to Earth.
- Wang controls about 11.3–11.5% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate and holds an estimated $300 million in personal Bitcoin.
- SpaceX revealed for the first time it holds 8,285 Bitcoin and has confidentially filed for an IPO targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation.
- Wang previously served as commander on Fram2, SpaceX’s first crewed polar orbit mission, in 2025.
Bitcoin miner and F2Pool co-founder Chun Wang will command SpaceX’s first human spaceflight mission to Mars, a two-year deep space journey set to launch in 2026.
Founder of One of the Largest Bitcoin Mining Pools to Join Two-Year Starship Mission to Mars
Wang Chun, co-founder of F2Pool, one of the largest Bitcoin mining pools, and commander of Fram2, will fly aboard Starship’s first human interplanetary spaceflight mission to Mars. The… pic.twitter.com/uLsWt09jvi
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) May 22, 2026
SpaceX announced on Thursday that Wang will board its Starship spacecraft for a mission that travels beyond the Earth-Moon system, conducts a Mars flyby, and returns to Earth.
Wang is a Chinese-born Maltese-Kittitian crypto investor who co-founded F2Pool in 2013 with Shixing Mao. The mining pool currently controls between 11.3% and 11.5% of the global Bitcoin hashrate. Wang’s personal Bitcoin holdings are estimated at over $300 million.
Before heading to Mars, Wang will also take part in SpaceX’s first commercial crewed lunar flyby on Starship, a one-week mission that will bring him within about 125 miles of the Moon’s surface alongside Dennis and Akiko Tito.
This is not Wang’s first time in space. He served as mission commander on Fram2 in 2025, SpaceX’s first crewed polar orbit mission.
A Two-Year Deep Space Journey
The Mars mission will last two full years. The crew will travel outside the Earth-Moon system, complete a high-altitude Mars flyby, and follow a complex return path back to Earth.
The mission uses SpaceX’s next-generation Starship V3. The upgraded spacecraft includes vacuum-jacketed header feed lines, high-voltage cryogenic recirculation systems, and 60 custom avionics units capable of handling up to 9 megawatts of peak power.
The crew will face serious risks during the mission. These include hardware fatigue, managing cryogenic fuel in deep space, and exposure to radiation over 24 months.
Wang and his crew are also tasked with collecting biomedical data. This includes behavioral health tracking and capturing the first-ever human X-ray images taken in microgravity.
That data is designed to help SpaceX improve Starship for rapid reuse and plan future missions. Elon Musk’s long-term goal is to transport up to one million people to Mars.
“After we come back from Mars, we will have the opportunity to take some real photos, especially of Mars,” Wang said in a SpaceX video. “Mars will no longer be a distant place. It will become reality.”
SpaceX’s Bitcoin Holdings and IPO Plans
The Mars announcement comes at a busy time for SpaceX. The company has confidentially filed for an IPO targeting a valuation of over $1.75 trillion, which would be the largest in history.
SpaceX also publicly disclosed its Bitcoin holdings for the first time. The company holds 8,285 Bitcoin.
SpaceX has flown 78 crew members to and from space across 20 missions since 2020. Seven of those were commercial or private astronaut missions.
No specific launch dates have been confirmed for either the lunar or Mars missions.
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