Elon Musk Archives > The Immigrant Learning Center

1. Video released by spacecraft maker Space, X commemorating its Dragon capsule, which on May 25, 2012, ended up being the very first business 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 company Pay, Pal and formed Area, X, maker of launch vehicles and spacecraft. He was likewise among the very first significant financiers in, in addition to chief executive officer of, the electrical vehicle maker Tesla. Top Concerns, Elon Musk was born upon June 28, 1971. Elon Musk cofounded the electronic payment company Pay, Buddy and established the spacecraft company Area, X. Elon Musk established Space, X, a company that makes rockets and spacecraft. He became the chief executive officer and a major funder of Tesla, which makes electric automobiles. Musk was born to a South African daddy and a Canadian mom. He displayed an early skill for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he produced a video game and sold it to a computer magazine. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he hesitated to support apartheid through compulsory military service and because he sought the greater financial chances offered 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 received bachelor's degrees in physics and economics in 1997. In 1995 he founded Zip2, a company that provided maps and service directories to online newspapers. In 1999 Zip2 was purchased by the computer system producer Click for info Compaq for $307 million, and Musk then established an online monetary services company, X.com, which later on ended up being Click for more info Pay, Friend, which specialized in moving money online. The online auction e, Bay bought Pay, Pal in 2002 for $1. 5 billion. Musk was long persuaded that for life to make it through, humanity needs to become a multiplanet species. Nevertheless, he was dissatisfied with the excellent expenditure of rocket launchers. In 2002 he founded Space Exploration Technologies (Area, X) to make more economical rockets. A third rocket, the Falcon Heavy (first introduced in 2018), was created to carry 117,000 pounds (53,000 kg) to orbit, almost twice as much as its biggest competitor, the Boeing Company's Delta IV Heavy, for one-third the expense. Area, X has actually announced the successor to the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy: the Super Heavy, Starship system. The Super Heavy very 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 supplying quick transport between cities on Earth 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 sought to reduce the expenditure of spaceflight by developing a completely multiple-use rocket that could lift off and return to the pad it introduced from. Starting in 2012, Space, X's Grasshopper rocket made a number of short flights to check such innovation. In addition to being CEO of Space, X, Musk was also primary designer in building the Falcon rockets, Dragon, and Insect. Get a Britannica Premium membership and gain access to unique content. Subscribe Now Musk had actually long been interested in the possibilities of electrical cars, and in 2004 he became one of the significant funders of Tesla Motors (later relabelled Tesla), an electric cars and truck business established by business owners Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.