Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X celebrating its Dragon pill, which on May 25, 2012, became the very first industrial 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 entrepreneur who cofounded the electronic-payment firm Pay, Buddy and formed Space, X, maker of launch vehicles and spacecraft. He was also among the very first significant financiers in, as well as ceo of, the electrical car maker Tesla. Top Questions, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Friend and founded the spacecraft business Space, 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, that makes electric automobiles. Musk was born to a South African dad and a Canadian mother. He showed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he created a computer game and sold it to a computer magazine. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he was unwilling to support apartheid through mandatory military service and since he sought the greater economic opportunities available in the United States. Musk attended 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 company that supplied maps and company directories to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer producer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online financial services company, X.com, which later ended up being Pay, Friend, which concentrated on transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Buddy in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to survive, humankind has to become a multiplanet types. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the excellent expenditure of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Space Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more budget friendly rockets.
A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially launched in 2018), was designed to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, almost two times as much as its largest rival, the Boeing Business's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Area, X has 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 lifting 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft created for offering quick transportation between cities on Earth and developing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can bring as many as 7 astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk looked for to minimize the cost of spaceflight by establishing a completely reusable rocket that might take off and go back to the pad it introduced from. Starting in 2012, Area, X's Insect rocket made numerous short flights to test such technology. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was also primary designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to special content. Subscribe Now Musk had long been interested in the possibilities of electrical automobiles, and in 2004 he turned into one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on relabelled Tesla), an electrical car business established by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.