The four-person crew, led by cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang, will spend three to five days on a rare flight path around Earth’s poles.

Apple and SpaceX subsidiary Starlink have been rolling out competing satellite features that allow smartphone users to send text messages while

SpaceX is preparing to establish its first ground station for Starlink satellites in Vietnam by June, with plans to build 10-15 stations.

The Falcon 9 rocket flying the mission, Starlink 11-7, carried a total of 27 satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California. The SpaceX rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex-4E at 6:11:40 p.m. ET (2211 GMT).

SpaceX is readying a ground station in Vietnam for Starlink satellites and plans many more, two people with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, in a move that would herald its launch in the country and would help authorities police internet traffic.

A bitcoin investor who bought a SpaceX flight for himself and three polar explorers blasted off on Monday night on the first rocket ride to carry people

The first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX launched its third mission of the year for the United States' spy satellite agency today (March 24), the 19th anniversary of the company's first-ever liftoff. A Falcon 9 rocket rose off a pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 1:48 p.m. EDT (1748 GMT) on the NROL-69 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).

Mikkelsen, the first Norwegian bound for space, has flown over the poles before, but at a much lower altitude. She was part of the 2019 record-breaking mission that circumnavigated the world via the poles in a Gulfstream jet to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing.