Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X celebrating its Dragon pill, 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 entrepreneur who cofounded the electronic-payment company Pay, Pal and formed Area, X, maker of launch cars and spacecraft. He was likewise among the very first substantial financiers in, along with chief executive officer of, the electrical automobile maker Tesla. Top Concerns, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Friend and founded the spacecraft company Area, X.
Elon Musk founded Area, X, a business that makes rockets Learn here and spacecraft. He ended up being the primary executive officer and a major funder of Tesla, that makes electric vehicles. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mother. He showed an early skill for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he developed a video game and offered it to a computer system publication. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he hesitated to support apartheid through mandatory military service and due to the fact that he looked for the higher economic opportunities 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 supplied maps and organization directories to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer manufacturer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online financial services company, X.com, which later ended up being Pay, Pal, which focused on moving money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Buddy in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to endure, humankind has to end up being a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the terrific expenditure of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Space Expedition Technologies (Space, X) to make more affordable rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially launched in 2018), was created to bring 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly twice as much as its largest competitor, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Area, X has actually announced the follower to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first stage would be capable of raising 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft created for supplying quick transport between cities in the world and building bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can bring as numerous as seven astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to reduce the expenditure of spaceflight by establishing a completely recyclable rocket that might take off and return to the pad it launched from. Beginning in 2012, Space, X's Insect rocket made a number of brief flights to evaluate such technology. In addition to being CEO of Area, X, Musk was likewise primary designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to exclusive material. Subscribe Now Musk had 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 electrical automobile company established by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.