Maltese cryptocurrency billionaire Wang is funding the Fram2 mission, which also includes Jannicke Mikkelsen of Norway, Rabea Rogge of Germany and Eric Philips of Australia — all of them spaceflight rookies. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the quartet aboard Resilience from KSC's Launch Complex-39A (LC-39A) on Monday (March 31).

The mission, funded and commanded by a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, was launched by SpaceX on Monday and has grabbed headlines for its flight path

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on Monday night, sending four amateur astronauts on an unprecedented journey around Earth’s poles. The mission is traveling where no crew has gone before, and SpaceX just revealed the first views of the planet’s chilly polar regions from above.