Video launched by spacecraft maker Area, X commemorating its Dragon pill, which on May 25, 2012, became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Spaceport Station. Area, X (A Britannica Publishing Partner), (born June 28, 1971, Pretoria, South Africa), South African-born American entrepreneur who cofounded the electronic-payment firm Pay, Pal and formed Space, X, maker of launch automobiles and spacecraft. He was likewise one of the very first significant investors in, in addition to chief executive officer of, the electric vehicle producer 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 Area, X.
Elon Musk founded Space, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He ended up being the ceo and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electrical automobiles. 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 computer game and offered it to a computer system magazine. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa due to the fact that he was reluctant 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 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 provided maps and service directory sites to online papers. 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 on ended up being Pay, Pal, which concentrated on moving cash online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to endure, mankind has to become a multiplanet types. Nevertheless, he was dissatisfied with the great expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Space Expedition Technologies (Space, X) to make more budget friendly rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (initially launched in 2018), was created to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly two times as much as its largest rival, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the expense. Space, X has actually revealed the successor to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first stage 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 supplying quick transportation in 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 carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to decrease the expense of spaceflight by establishing a completely reusable rocket that might take off and return to the pad it launched from. Starting in 2012, Area, X's Grasshopper rocket made several short flights to check such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Area, X, Musk was likewise chief designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to exclusive material. Subscribe Now Musk had actually long had an interest in the possibilities of electrical cars and trucks, and in 2004 he ended up being one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electrical car business founded by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.