Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became 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 Area, X, maker of launch cars and spacecraft. He was likewise among the first substantial financiers in, along with ceo of, the electrical car maker Tesla. Top Questions, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Friend and established the spacecraft business Area, X.
Elon Musk established Area, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He ended up being the president and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electrical cars and trucks. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mom. He showed an early skill for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he created a computer game and sold it to a computer system publication. In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he hesitated to support apartheid through compulsory military service and because he sought the higher financial chances available 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 received bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he established Zip2, a business that provided maps and service directory sites to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer system manufacturer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online monetary services company, X.com, which later on became Pay, Pal, which focused on moving money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to make it through, mankind needs to end up being a multiplanet species. However, he was dissatisfied with the terrific expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Area Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more budget friendly rockets.
A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially released in 2018), was created to bring 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly two times as much as its biggest rival, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the expense. Space, X has revealed the successor to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy very first phase would can raising 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft designed for offering quick transportation in between cities on Earth and developing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can bring 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 expense of spaceflight by developing a totally recyclable rocket that could take off and go back to the pad it launched from. Starting in 2012, Space, X's Insect rocket made several brief flights to test such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was likewise primary designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to special material. Subscribe Now Musk had actually long had an interest in the possibilities of electrical vehicles, and in 2004 he turned into one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electric car business established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.