Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X celebrating its Dragon pill, which on May 25, 2012, became the first business spacecraft to dock with the International Spaceport 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, Buddy and formed Space, X, maker of launch cars and spacecraft. He was likewise one of the very first considerable investors in, along with chief executive officer of, the electrical vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Top Concerns, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Buddy and established the spacecraft business Area, X.
Elon Musk established Space, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He ended up being the chief executive officer and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electrical automobiles. 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 developed a computer game and sold it to a computer system publication. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa since he was unwilling to support apartheid through compulsory military service and since he sought the greater economic chances readily available in the United States. Musk went to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he got bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
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In 1995 he established Zip2, a company that provided maps and service 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 company, X.com, which later on ended up being Pay, Friend, which focused on transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Click for more Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to survive, mankind needs to end up being a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the excellent expenditure of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Space Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more budget friendly rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially launched in 2018), was created to carry 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 expense. Area, X has revealed the follower to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy very first stage would be capable of raising 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft designed for providing quick transportation in between cities on Earth and developing 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 totally multiple-use rocket that might raise off and go back to the pad it released from. Beginning in 2012, Area, X's Insect rocket made several short flights to evaluate such technology. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was likewise chief designer in constructing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to special content. Subscribe Now Musk had long had an interest in the possibilities of electrical cars, and in 2004 he became one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later relabelled Tesla), an electric cars and truck business established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.