By Joey Roulette WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The space race between U.S. billionaires is heating up, with Elon Musk's SpaceX planning to build a lunar base and Jeff Bezos pushing Blue Origin's ambitions as both companies aim to return humans to the moon ahead of a planned mission by China in 2030.

Last year, Musk said "the moon is a distraction." Now, he's talking about building a city there. The shift may be more strategic than it sounds.

The company also expanded phone-based customer support to cover customers in Australia and New Zealand, in addition to the US and Canada.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch Feb. 11 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Here's where to watch liftoff in California.

Space investors and dealmakers anticipate SpaceX’s planned IPO this year will trigger a surge of capital across the industry, but not without the risk of pulling investor attention away from other companies in the run-up.

At 5:15 a.m. EST, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch comes after days of weather delays, not in Florida, but along the flight path over the Atlantic Ocean.

The South Windsor High grad was among four people in the Falcon 9 rocket that launched around 5:15 a.m. Friday.

Elon Musk's rocket maker wants an express lane from $1 trln IPO to benchmark status, expanding the early-buyer pool. Since 2013, however, new stocks have returned just 7% a year, barely half the S&P 500 gain.