Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X celebrating its Dragon pill, which on May 25, 2012, became the very first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Spaceport 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, Buddy and formed Area, X, maker of launch vehicles and spacecraft. He was likewise one of the very first considerable investors in, along with chief executive officer of, the electrical vehicle producer Tesla. Top Concerns, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Friend and founded the spacecraft company Space, X.
Elon Musk established Area, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the president and a significant funder of Tesla, that makes electric cars and trucks. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mom. He showed an early talent for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he developed a video game and offered it to a computer publication. In 1988, after getting a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he hesitated to support apartheid through compulsory military service and since he looked for the greater financial chances offered in the United States. Musk attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he received bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he established Zip2, a company that supplied maps and organization directories to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer maker Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online financial services business, X.com, which later on ended up being Pay, Pal, which focused on moving cash online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Buddy in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to make it through, humankind has to end up being a multiplanet types. However, he was disappointed with the terrific cost of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Space Exploration Technologies (Area, X) to make more cost effective rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially launched in 2018), was created to bring 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly two times as much as its biggest competitor, the Boeing Company'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 very 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 created for providing quick transport in between cities on Earth and building bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can bring as numerous as seven astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to minimize the expenditure of spaceflight by establishing a fully recyclable rocket that might take off and return to the pad it released from. Starting in 2012, Space, X's Insect rocket made a number of brief flights to evaluate such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was likewise primary designer in developing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to special material. Subscribe Now Musk had long been interested in the possibilities of electric cars and trucks, and in 2004 he turned into one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electrical cars and truck company established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.
