Video launched by spacecraft maker Area, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became the first business spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Space, X (A Britannica Publishing Partner), (born Great site 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 vehicles and spacecraft. He was also one of the very first significant investors in, along with chief executive officer of, the electric car manufacturer Tesla. Leading Questions, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Buddy and founded the spacecraft company Space, X.
Elon Musk established Area, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the primary executive officer and a major funder of Tesla, that makes electric cars. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mom. He displayed an early skill for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he created Helpful resources a computer game and offered it to a computer magazine. In 1988, after getting a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he was reluctant to support apartheid through required military service and because he looked for the greater financial chances offered in the United States. Musk went to 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 company that supplied maps and business directory sites to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was bought by the computer manufacturer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online monetary services business, X.com, which later ended up being Pay, Pal, which focused on transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Buddy in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced 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 established Area Exploration Technologies (Space, X) to make more budget-friendly rockets.
A 3rd Additional reading rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first introduced in 2018), was created to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, almost two times as much as its biggest competitor, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Area, X has actually announced the successor 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 developed for providing quick transportation in between cities on Earth and developing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as lots of as 7 astronauts, and it had a crewed flight carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to reduce the expense of spaceflight by developing a completely reusable rocket that might take off and return to the pad it introduced from. Beginning in 2012, Area, X's Insect rocket made several brief flights to test such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Area, X, Musk was likewise primary designer in developing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to special content. Subscribe Now Musk had actually long had an interest in the possibilities of electrical cars and trucks, and in 2004 he turned into one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electric automobile company established by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.