Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became the first industrial 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 business owner who cofounded the electronic-payment company Pay, Buddy and formed Space, X, maker of launch vehicles and spacecraft. He was likewise among the very first substantial investors in, along with ceo of, the electric vehicle producer Tesla. Leading Concerns, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Buddy and established the spacecraft business Space, X.
Elon Musk established Space, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He ended up being the ceo and a significant funder of Tesla, which makes electric cars. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mom. He displayed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he developed a video game and sold it to a computer publication. In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he was reluctant to support apartheid through required military service and since he looked for the greater financial chances offered in the United States. Musk participated in 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 founded Zip2, a business that provided maps and service directories to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer system producer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online financial services business, X.com, which later on ended up being Pay, Friend, which concentrated on moving money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Pal in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to endure, humankind has to become a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was dissatisfied with the great cost 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 released in 2018), was developed to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, almost twice as much as its largest competitor, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Area, X has actually announced 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 developed for offering quick transport between cities on Earth and building bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as lots of as seven astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk looked for to lower the expenditure of spaceflight by developing a totally reusable rocket that could take off and go back to the pad it introduced from. Beginning in 2012, Space, X's Insect rocket made several short flights to test such technology. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was also chief designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and follow this link Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to unique content. Subscribe Now Musk had actually 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 renamed Tesla), an electric car business established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.