Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon pill, which on May 25, 2012, became the very first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Area Station. Area, X (A Britannica Publishing Partner), (born June 28, 1971, Pretoria, South Africa), South African-born American entrepreneur who cofounded the electronic-payment firm Pay, Pal and formed Area, X, maker of launch vehicles and spacecraft. He was also one of the very first substantial financiers in, in addition to ceo of, the electrical vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Leading Questions, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Friend and founded the spacecraft business Area, X.
Elon Musk established Space, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the primary executive officer and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electrical automobiles. Musk was born to a South African dad and a Canadian mom. He showed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he developed a computer game and offered it to a computer publication. In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he was unwilling to support apartheid through compulsory military service and because he looked for the higher economic chances readily available in the United States. Musk participated in 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 offered maps and business directories to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer manufacturer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online financial services business, X.com, which later on became Pay, Friend, which specialized in moving money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to survive, mankind needs to become a multiplanet species. However, he was dissatisfied with the great expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Space Exploration Technologies (Space, X) to make more cost effective rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first released in 2018), was created to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly two times as much as its largest competitor, the Boeing Business's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Area, X has actually announced the successor to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first phase 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 supplying fast transport in between cities in the world and developing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as numerous as seven astronauts, and it had a crewed flight carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk looked for to minimize the expense of spaceflight by establishing a totally multiple-use rocket that might raise off and return to the pad it introduced from. Beginning in 2012, Space, X's Insect rocket made numerous brief flights to evaluate such technology. In addition Informative post to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was likewise chief designer in developing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to unique material. Subscribe Now Musk had long had an interest in the possibilities of electric cars, and in 2004 he turned into one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later relabelled Tesla), an electric vehicle company founded by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.