Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X celebrating its Dragon capsule, 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, Buddy and formed Area, X, maker of launch lorries and spacecraft. He was likewise one of the very first considerable financiers in, as well as ceo of, the electrical automobile maker Tesla. Leading Concerns, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Pal and founded the spacecraft business Space, X.
Elon Musk founded Area, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He ended up being the ceo and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electrical vehicles. Musk was born to a South African dad and a Canadian mom. He displayed an early skill for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he created a computer game and offered it to a computer system magazine. In 1988, after getting a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa since he hesitated to support apartheid through required military service and since he sought the greater financial 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 got bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he founded Zip2, a business that offered maps and service directories to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer system producer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online financial services business, X.com, which later on ended up being Pay, Pal, which concentrated on moving money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Go to the website Pay, Buddy in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to endure, mankind needs to end up being a multiplanet types. However, he was disappointed with the excellent cost of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Area Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more economical rockets.
A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially launched in 2018), was designed to bring 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly twice as much as its largest rival, the Boeing Business's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Area, 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 designed for offering fast transport in between cities on Earth and developing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as lots of as seven astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to reduce the expenditure of spaceflight by establishing a completely reusable rocket that might lift off and return to Helpful site the pad it launched from. Starting in 2012, Space, X's Insect rocket made a number of short flights to check such technology. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was likewise chief designer in developing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to unique content. Subscribe Now Musk had actually Click here! long been interested in the possibilities of electrical cars, and in 2004 he became one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electric car business established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.