SpaceX launched the private Fram2 mission Monday (March 31), sending a crew of four spaceflight rookies into an orbit never before flown by astronauts. The crew is riding aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience in a polar orbit around the planet, on a trajectory that flies Resilience above some of Earth's most remote regions.

The international all-civilian Fram2 crew is the first in space history to fly to orbit with no licensed pilot or trained astronaut on board.

The crew will observe Earth's polar regions 430 kilometers above the surface, allowing the Crew Dragon Resilience to travel from the North to South Pole under an hour.