Video launched by spacecraft maker Space, X celebrating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Spaceport Station. Space, elon musk neuralink 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 Space, X, maker of launch cars and spacecraft. He was also one of the first substantial financiers in, in addition to ceo of, the electrical automobile maker Tesla. Leading Questions, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment firm Pay, Pal and established the spacecraft business Area, X.

Elon Musk established Space, X, a company that get more info makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the president and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electric cars. Musk was born to a South African father and a Canadian mom. He showed an early skill for computer systems and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he produced a video game and offered it to a computer publication. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he hesitated to support apartheid through obligatory military service and since he looked for the higher financial opportunities available in the United States. Musk participated in Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and in 1992 he moved 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 provided maps and business directories to online papers. In 1999 Zip2 was bought by the computer maker Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then founded Visit this site an online financial services business, X.com, which later became Pay, Buddy, which specialized in transferring cash online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Pal in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to endure, humankind has to end up being a multiplanet types. However, he was dissatisfied with the fantastic cost of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Space Exploration Technologies (Area, X) to make more budget-friendly rockets.

A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first released in 2018), was designed to carry 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 expense. Space, 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 designed for providing fast transport between cities in the world and developing bases on the Moon and Mars.

Dragon can carry as lots of as seven astronauts, and it had a crewed flight carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS in 2020. Musk sought to minimize the expenditure of spaceflight by developing a completely multiple-use rocket that could lift off and return to the pad it released from. Starting in 2012, Space, X's Grasshopper rocket made numerous short flights to check such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Area, X, Musk was also primary designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Grasshopper. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to special content. Subscribe Now Musk had actually long been interested 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 electric vehicle company founded by entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.