Video launched by spacecraft maker Area, X celebrating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, ended up being the very first business spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Space, X (A Britannica Publishing Partner), (born June 28, 1971, Pretoria, South Africa), South African-born American entrepreneur who cofounded the electronic-payment company Pay, Pal and formed Space, X, maker of launch vehicles and spacecraft. He was likewise one of the very first substantial financiers in, in addition to ceo of, the electric cars and truck maker Tesla. Top Concerns, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Pal and established the spacecraft business Area, X.
Elon Musk founded Space, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He ended up being the president and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electric cars and trucks. Musk was born to a South African dad and a Canadian mother. He displayed an early talent for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he produced a video game and sold it to a computer publication. In 1988, after getting a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he hesitated to support apartheid through obligatory military service and due to the fact that he looked for the greater financial chances available in the United States. Musk went to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he received bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he founded Zip2, a business that provided maps and company directory sites to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer maker Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online monetary services business, X.com, which later on became Pay, Buddy, which specialized in transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to make it through, mankind needs to become a multiplanet species. However, he was disappointed with the terrific expenditure of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Area Exploration Technologies (Area, X) to make more budget-friendly rockets.
A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first introduced in 2018), was created to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly two times as much as its largest rival, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the expense. Space, X has revealed the follower to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first stage would be capable of lifting 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft designed for providing fast transport between cities on Earth and constructing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can bring as lots of as 7 astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to reduce the expenditure of spaceflight by establishing a totally recyclable rocket that might raise off and go back to the pad it introduced from. Beginning in 2012, Area, X's Insect rocket made several short flights to test such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was also chief designer in developing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to special content. Subscribe Now Musk had actually long been interested in the possibilities of electrical automobiles, and in 2004 he turned into one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electrical car business established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.