Four space explorers will launch with SpaceX next week on a polar orbital mission that could unlock a new area in space for future spaceflights.

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

The Fram2 crew will be the first people to observe the polar regions from low Earth orbit, and they'll work on experiments and projects designed to forward our understanding of long-duration spaceflight. The mission will also mark the first time that crews have used an X-ray machine on humans in orbit.

A bitcoin investor is headed to space with three polar explorers on the first flight to carry people over the north and south poles

Chun Wang, a Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur, paid an undisclosed amount for the mission. Some satellites are already in polar orbit, and researchers called it a routine flight.

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.

Find out the latest about SpaceX's private Fram2 polar astronaut mission for cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang.

Fram2, a first-of-its-kind private mission to send four astronauts into polar orbit around Earth, is about to launch

A unique mission called Fram2, paid for and led by a cryptocurrency billionaire who is flying with three guests, lifted off, carrying the crew into an orbit around the North and South poles. Follow live news updates.