A bitcoin investor who bought a SpaceX flight for himself and three polar explorers blasted off Monday night on the first rocket ride to carry people over the North and South poles.
Chun Wang, a Chinese-born entrepreneur, hurtled into orbit from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Centre. SpaceX’s Falcon rocket steered southward over the Atlantic, putting the space tourists on a path never flown before in 64 years of human space flight.
Wang has not said how much he paid Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the 3½-day ultimate polar adventure.
The first leg of their flight – from Florida to the South Pole – took barely a half-hour. From the targeted altitude of some 440km (270 miles), their fully automated capsule would circle the globe in roughly 1½ hours including 46 minutes to fly from pole to pole.
“Enjoy the views of the poles. Send us some pictures,” SpaceX Launch Control radioed once the capsule reached orbit.
