Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became the very 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 business owner who cofounded the electronic-payment firm Pay, Pal and formed Space, X, maker of launch lorries and spacecraft. He was likewise among the very first significant financiers in, in addition to ceo of, the electric vehicle producer Tesla. Leading Concerns, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Friend and founded the spacecraft business Space, X.
Elon Musk founded Area, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the president and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electric cars and trucks. Musk was born to a South African daddy and a Canadian mother. He displayed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he created a video game and offered it to a computer magazine. In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he hesitated to support apartheid through required military service and since he sought the greater economic opportunities offered in the United States. Musk attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he moved 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 business directory sites to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was bought by the computer producer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online financial services business, X.com, which later on became Pay, Pal, which concentrated on 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 needs to end up being a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was dissatisfied with the excellent expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Area Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more budget-friendly rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first released in 2018), was created to bring 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 expense. Space, X has actually announced the successor to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first stage would be capable of lifting 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 constructing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as many as seven 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 establishing a completely recyclable rocket that could lift off and go back to the pad it launched from. Beginning in 2012, Area, X's Grasshopper rocket made numerous short flights to check such innovation. 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 subscription and gain access to special content. Subscribe Now Musk had long been interested in the possibilities of electrical cars and trucks, and in 2004 he ended up being one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later relabelled Tesla), an electric vehicle company established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.