Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became the very first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Spaceport 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, Pal and formed Area, X, maker of launch vehicles and spacecraft. He was also among the very first substantial financiers in, along with ceo of, the electric vehicle producer Tesla. Leading Questions, Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Buddy and established the spacecraft business Space, X.
Elon Musk founded Area, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the president and a significant funder of Tesla, that makes electric cars and trucks. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mother. He displayed an early talent for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he developed a computer game and offered it to a computer system publication. In 1988, after getting a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he was unwilling to support apartheid through obligatory military service and since he looked for the higher economic opportunities offered 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 got bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997.
In 1995 he established Zip2, a company that supplied maps and business directory sites to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was bought by the computer system maker Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded an online financial services company, X.com, which later on ended up being Pay, Pal, which specialized in transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Friend in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to survive, mankind needs to end up being a multiplanet species. However, he was disappointed with the fantastic expenditure of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Space Exploration Technologies (Area, X) to make more budget-friendly rockets.
A 3rd rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first released in 2018), was developed to carry 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. Area, X has actually revealed 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 designed for offering quick transportation between cities in the world and building bases on the Moon and Mars.
Dragon can carry 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 reduce the expense of spaceflight by developing a fully reusable rocket that could take off and return to the pad it introduced from. Starting in 2012, Space, X's Insect Check out here rocket made several brief flights to test such technology. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was likewise primary designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now Visit this website Musk had long been interested in the possibilities of electric vehicles, and in 2004 he turned into one of the major funders of Tesla Motors (later on renamed Tesla), an electrical vehicle business established by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.