Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X celebrating its Dragon capsule, 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, Pal and formed Space, X, maker of launch cars and spacecraft. He was also one of the first significant read more investors in, along with ceo of, the electrical automobile manufacturer Tesla. Top Concerns, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Buddy and founded the spacecraft business Area, X.

Elon Musk established Space, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the chief executive officer and a significant funder of Tesla, that makes electrical cars. Musk was born to a South African dad and a Canadian mom. He displayed an early talent for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he produced a computer game and sold it to a computer magazine. In 1988, after getting a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he was unwilling to support apartheid through obligatory military service and because he sought 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 established Zip2, a company that supplied maps and company directories to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer producer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online financial services company, X.com, which later on became Pay, Pal, which focused on Go to the website transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Buddy in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to make it through, humanity needs to become a multiplanet species. However, he was dissatisfied with the great cost of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Space Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more inexpensive rockets.

A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially introduced in 2018), was developed to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly two times as much as its biggest rival, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the expense. Space, X has announced the follower 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 developed for offering fast transport in between cities in the world and constructing bases on the Moon and Mars.

Dragon can bring as many as 7 astronauts, and it had a crewed flight carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk looked for to reduce the expense of spaceflight by establishing a fully multiple-use rocket angelostbe593.tearosediner.net/elon-musk-jumps-to-2nd-spot-from-31st-in-forbes-record-mint that might raise off and return to the pad it launched from. Starting in 2012, Space, X's Insect rocket made numerous brief flights to check such innovation. In addition 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 actually long had an interest in the possibilities of electrical automobiles, and in 2004 he turned into one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later renamed Tesla), an You can find out more electric car company founded by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.