Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon pill, 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 entrepreneur who cofounded the electronic-payment firm Pay, Buddy and formed Space, X, maker of launch lorries and spacecraft. He was likewise among the first considerable investors in, in addition to chief executive officer of, the electric cars and truck manufacturer Tesla. Top Questions, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Friend and established the spacecraft company Space, X.
Elon Musk established Space, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the primary executive officer and a significant funder click here of Tesla, that makes electrical cars and trucks. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mother. He displayed an early talent for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he produced a computer game and sold Article source it to a computer system publication. In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa since he hesitated to support apartheid through required military service and because he looked for the greater financial opportunities 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 received bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he established Zip2, a company that offered maps and organization directories to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was bought by the computer system producer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online monetary services business, X.com, which later on ended up being Pay, Pal, which focused on transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to endure, humankind has to become a multiplanet types. However, he was dissatisfied with the great cost of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Area Exploration Technologies (Area, X) to make more economical rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially released in 2018), was created to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly two times as Browse around this site much as its largest rival, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the expense. Space, 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 Learn more (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft designed for supplying fast transportation in between cities in the world and building bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as numerous as 7 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 establishing a completely recyclable rocket that could take off and go back to the pad it launched from. Starting in 2012, Area, X's Grasshopper rocket made several short flights to test such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Area, X, Musk was likewise chief designer in developing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to unique material. Subscribe Now Musk had actually long been interested in the possibilities of electric cars, and in 2004 he became one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later renamed Tesla), an electric vehicle company established by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.