Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became the very first business 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 firm Pay, Pal and formed Space, X, maker of launch lorries and spacecraft. He was likewise among the first significant investors in, along with primary executive officer of, the electric automobile manufacturer Tesla. Top Questions, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Buddy and established the spacecraft company Area, X.
Elon Musk established Space, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He ended up being the chief executive officer and a major funder of Tesla, that makes electrical automobiles. Musk was born to a South African daddy and a Canadian mom. He displayed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he developed a computer game and sold it to a computer publication. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he was unwilling to support apartheid through obligatory military service and because he sought the higher economic opportunities readily available in the United States. Musk went to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he got bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he established Zip2, a business that provided maps and organization directory sites to online newspapers. 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, Pal, which specialized in moving money online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Buddy in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to endure, mankind has to become a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the terrific cost of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Space Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more inexpensive rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially released in 2018), was developed to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly twice as much as its biggest rival, the Boeing Business's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Space, X has announced the follower to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first phase would be capable of raising 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft created for offering quick transport in between cities in the world and building bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can bring as numerous as 7 astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to lower the expense of spaceflight by establishing a completely recyclable rocket that might take off and return to the pad it introduced from. Beginning in 2012, Space, X's Grasshopper rocket made several brief flights to check such technology. In addition to being CEO of Area, X, Musk was also primary designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. 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 turned into one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on relabelled Tesla), an electric cars and truck company established by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.