Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon pill, which on May 25, 2012, ended up being the very 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 business owner who cofounded the electronic-payment firm Pay, Buddy and formed Space, X, maker of launch cars and spacecraft. He was likewise among the first significant financiers in, in addition to chief executive officer of, the electrical automobile producer Tesla. Leading Questions, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Buddy and founded the spacecraft business Space, X.
Elon Musk established Space, X, a Learn more business that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the ceo and a significant funder of Tesla, that makes electrical cars. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mother. He displayed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he developed a video game and offered it to a computer system publication. In 1988, after acquiring a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa since he was reluctant to support apartheid through mandatory military service and since he looked for the higher financial chances readily available in the United States. Musk went to 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 founded Zip2, a company that offered maps and business directory sites to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was bought 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 cash online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Pal in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to survive, humanity needs to become a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was disappointed with the great expense of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Area Expedition Technologies (Area, X) to make more economical rockets.

A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first launched in 2018), was developed to bring 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, almost two times as much as its largest rival, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the expense. Space, X has actually announced the successor 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 providing fast transportation between cities sec.electionmagic.com/page/elon-musk-money-dragon-aD7scYZKOp-d on Earth and developing bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry as numerous as 7 astronauts, and it had a crewed flight bring astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to minimize the expense of spaceflight by establishing a completely recyclable rocket that might take off and go back to the pad it released from. Starting in 2012, Space, X's Insect rocket made a number of brief flights to test 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 exclusive content. Subscribe Now Musk had long been interested in the Learn here possibilities of electric cars, and in 2004 he ended up being one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on relabelled Tesla), an electric car company established by business elon musk net worth owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.