Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became the first commercial 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 business owner who cofounded the electronic-payment company Pay, Pal and formed Space, X, maker of launch lorries and spacecraft. He was likewise among the first significant investors in, along with president of, the electrical automobile maker Tesla. Top Concerns, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Friend and established the spacecraft company Area, X.
Elon Musk established Area, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the ceo and a major funder of Tesla, that makes electric automobiles. Musk was born to a South African dad and a Canadian mom. He showed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he developed a video game and sold it to a computer magazine. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he was unwilling to support apartheid through required military service and because he looked for the higher financial chances offered 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 founded Zip2, a company that offered maps and service directories to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer system manufacturer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online monetary services business, X.com, which later ended up being Pay, Buddy, which specialized in moving cash online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Pal in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to endure, mankind has to become a multiplanet types. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the great cost of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Area Expedition Technologies (Space, X) to make more budget-friendly rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially introduced in 2018), was created to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly twice as much as its biggest rival, the Boeing Company'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 can raising 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft created for offering fast transportation between cities on Earth and constructing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as lots of as 7 astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to minimize the expenditure of spaceflight by developing a totally recyclable rocket that could raise off and return to the pad it launched from. Starting in 2012, Area, X's Insect rocket made several brief flights to evaluate such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Area, X, Musk was also primary designer in constructing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Musk had long been interested 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 electric vehicle company founded by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.