Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon pill, which on May 25, 2012, ended up being the first business spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. Area, 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, Friend and formed Area, X, maker of launch cars and spacecraft. He was likewise one of the first substantial financiers in, as well as president of, the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Leading Questions, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Buddy and established the spacecraft business Area, X.
Elon Musk established Space, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the chief executive officer and a significant funder of Tesla, which makes electric vehicles. Musk was born to a South African daddy and a Canadian mom. He displayed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he produced a computer game and sold it to a computer system publication. In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa since he was unwilling to support apartheid through compulsory military service and due to the fact that he sought the higher financial chances readily 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 received bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he established Zip2, a business that provided maps and company directories to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer system manufacturer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online financial services business, X.com, which later became Pay, Friend, which focused on moving money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Pal in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to make it through, mankind has to end up being a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was dissatisfied with the excellent cost of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Area Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more affordable rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first introduced in 2018), was designed to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly two times as much as its largest competitor, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Area, X has revealed the follower to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first phase 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 between cities in the world and constructing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as many as 7 astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to reduce the cost of spaceflight by establishing a fully reusable rocket that could take off and return to the pad it introduced from. Starting in 2012, Area, X's Insect rocket made a number of 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 unique material. Subscribe Now Musk had long had an interest in the possibilities of electric vehicles, and in 2004 he ended up being one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later relabelled Tesla), an electric vehicle company established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.