Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X celebrating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, ended up being the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Spaceport 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, Friend and formed Space, X, maker of launch lorries and spacecraft. He was likewise among the very first substantial financiers in, along with president of, the electric car producer Tesla. Leading Concerns, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Buddy and established the spacecraft company Area, X.
Elon Musk established Area, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the president and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electric vehicles. 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 developed a computer game and offered it to a computer publication. In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he was unwilling to support apartheid through required military service and because he sought the greater financial opportunities offered 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 got bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he founded Zip2, a company that provided maps and business directories to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer system maker Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online financial services company, X.com, which later ended up being Pay, Buddy, which concentrated on moving money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to survive, humanity needs to become a multiplanet types. However, he was disappointed with the fantastic expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Area Exploration Technologies (Space, X) to make more budget friendly rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially introduced in 2018), was developed to bring 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, almost two times as much as its biggest rival, the Boeing Business's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the expense. Area, X has actually revealed the follower to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first stage would be capable of raising 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft developed for providing fast transportation in between cities on Earth and developing 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 looked for to lower the expenditure of spaceflight by establishing a completely multiple-use rocket that could take off and return to the pad it launched from. Beginning in 2012, Area, X's Insect rocket made numerous brief flights to evaluate 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 membership and gain access to unique material. Subscribe Now Musk had long had an interest in the possibilities of electric vehicles, and in 2004 he ended up being one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electrical cars and truck company founded by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.