SpaceX launches private astronaut crew in Fram2 polar-orbiting mission

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is prepared for launch, carrying four commercial astronauts into a 90-degree inclination polar orbit on the three to five days Fram2 mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Elon Musk's SpaceX on Monday launched a crew of four private astronauts led by a crypto entrepreneur on a mission to orbit Earth from pole to pole, a novel trajectory in which no humans have traveled before.

Maltese investor Chun Wang, a Chinese-born magnatewho founded a bitcoin mining company, is the bankroller and commander of the SpaceX mission, named Fram2, a reference to the Norwegian "Fram" ship that pioneered Arctic exploration at the turn of the 20th century.