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 Area 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, Pal and formed Space, X, maker of launch lorries and spacecraft. He was likewise one of the first substantial investors in, in addition to president of, the electrical cars and truck maker Tesla. Leading Concerns, 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 Area, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He ended up being the ceo and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electric automobiles. Musk was born to a South African daddy and a Canadian mom. He showed an early talent for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he created a video game and sold it to a computer system magazine. website In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he was unwilling to support apartheid through mandatory military service and because he looked for the higher economic opportunities available in the United States. Musk participated in 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 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 monetary services company, X.com, which later on ended up being Pay, Friend, which focused on transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Friend Additional info in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to make it through, humanity has to become a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the great expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Area Exploration Technologies (Area, X) to make more affordable rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first 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. Space, X has revealed the follower to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first phase would can lifting 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft designed for offering quick transportation between cities in the world and constructing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can bring as many 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 minimize the cost of spaceflight by developing a fully reusable rocket that could take off and return to the pad it released from. Beginning in 2012, Area, X's Grasshopper rocket made numerous short flights Great site to test such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was also primary designer in building 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 vehicles, and in 2004 he ended up being one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electrical automobile business established by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.