Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon pill, which on May 25, 2012, became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space 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, Friend and formed Space, X, maker of launch automobiles and spacecraft. He was also among the first substantial financiers in, as well as ceo of, the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Top Questions, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Pal and established the spacecraft company Area, X.
Elon Musk founded Space, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the chief executive officer and a significant funder of Tesla, which makes electric cars and trucks. 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 created a computer game and offered it to a computer publication. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa since he hesitated to support apartheid through mandatory military service and because he looked for the higher financial opportunities available in the United States. Musk attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he received bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he founded Zip2, a company that offered maps and company directories to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer manufacturer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online monetary services business, X.com, which later on became Pay, Friend, which focused on transferring money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to endure, mankind has to end up being a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was dissatisfied with the fantastic expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Space Exploration Technologies (Space, X) to make more budget friendly rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially launched in 2018), was developed to bring 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, almost twice as much as its biggest rival, the Boeing Business's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Space, X has announced the successor to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy very first stage would can raising 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft developed for offering quick transportation in between cities on Earth and constructing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can bring as lots of 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 decrease the cost of spaceflight by developing a totally recyclable rocket that could raise off and go back to the pad it introduced from. Beginning in 2012, Area, X's Insect rocket made a number of brief flights to test such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Area, X, Musk was also chief designer in developing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to special content. Subscribe Now Musk had actually long had an interest in the possibilities of electric automobiles, and in 2004 he became one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later on relabelled Tesla), an electric automobile company founded by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.