Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became the first commercial 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 first considerable investors in, as well as ceo of, the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. Top Questions, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Friend and established the spacecraft company Area, X.
Elon Musk established Discover more Space, X, a business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the president and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electrical cars and trucks. Musk was born to a South African daddy and a Canadian mom. He displayed an early talent for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he produced a video game and sold it to a computer system magazine. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he hesitated to support apartheid through required military service and because he sought the greater financial opportunities available in the United States. Musk went to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he got bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he founded Zip2, a business that provided maps and service directories to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer system manufacturer Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online financial services business, X.com, which later on ended up being Pay, Buddy, which concentrated on moving money online. The online auction e, Bay purchased Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long convinced that for life to make it through, mankind has to become a multiplanet types. Nevertheless, he was dissatisfied with the terrific expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he established Space Expedition Technologies (Space, X) to make more cost effective rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first introduced in 2018), was developed to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, nearly twice as much as its biggest rival, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the cost. Space, X has announced the successor to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy first phase would can lifting 100,000 kg (220,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The payload would be the Starship, a spacecraft developed for providing fast transport between cities on Earth and constructing 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 lower the cost of spaceflight by developing a totally recyclable rocket that could raise off and return to the pad it launched from. Beginning in 2012, Area, X's Grasshopper rocket made several brief flights to evaluate such technology. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was also primary designer in developing the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to unique content. Subscribe Now Musk had long been interested in the possibilities of electric vehicles, and in 2004 he turned into one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later on relabelled Tesla), an electric cars and truck company founded by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.