Elon Musk's SpaceX on Monday was set to launch 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.

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.

SpaceX successfully launched Fram2, the first crewed mission to orbit Earth's poles, on Monday night from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The historic mission is carrying four civilians from four countries.