ELON MUSK
by Unciu Vlad
01 02 03
Introduction Early Life SpaceX
04
Tesla
INTRODUCTION
Introduction
Elon Reeve Musk is an entrepreneur and business magnate . He is the founder, CEO
and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; early-stage investor, CEO and Product Architect of Tesla.
Musk was born to a Canadian mother and South African father, and raised in Pretoria,
South Africa.In 1995 he moved to California , Musk co-founded online bank X.com, which
merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal. The company was bought by eBay in 2002
for $1.5 billion.
In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport
services company, of which he is CEO .
Early Life
Elon Musk was born in South Africa on June 28, 1971. His parents are
Maye Musk, who is a South African model and dietitian, and Errol Musk,
who is a South African entrepreneur and investor.
Elon Musk is the son of Deborah Haldeman and Joshua Haldeman, who
was born in Canada. His family was very wealthy when he was young, and
they owned one of the biggest houses in the area. In 1980, he mostly lived
with his father in various locations after his parents divorced.
Around age 10, Musk developed an interest in computing and video
games and acquired a Commodore VIC-20. He learned computer
programming using a manual and, by age 12, sold the code of a BASIC-
based video game he created called Blastar to PC and Office
Technology magazine for approximately $500 . An awkward and introverted
child, Musk was bullied throughout his childhood and was once hospitalized
after a group of boys threw him down a flight of stairs. He
attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School and Bryanston High
School before graduating from Pretoria Boys High School.
SpaceX
In 2001, Musk became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society. He was inspired by plans to
place a growth-chamber for plants on Mars and discussed funding the project himself.In October
2001, Musk traveled to Moscow to buy refurbished Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that
could send the greenhouse payloads into space.
SpaceX attempted their first launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2006,and although the rocket failed
to reach Earth orbit, they were awarded a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program
contract from NASA later that year. After two more failed attempts, which reportedly caused Musk
so much stress that he was "waking from nightmares, screaming and in physical pain,“ SpaceX
succeeded in launching the Falcon 1 into orbit in 2008, making it the first private liquid-fuel rocket
to do so
in 2015, SpaceX successfully landed the first stage of a Falcon 9 Landings were later achieved on an autonomous
spaceport drone ship, an ocean-based recovery platformIn 2018, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy;
the inaugural mission carried Musk's personal Tesla Roadster as a dummy payload In 2017, SpaceX unveiled its
next-generation launch vehicle and spacecraft system, In 2018, SpaceX announced a planned 2023 lunar
circumnavigation mission, a private flight called dearMoon project . In 2020, SpaceX launched its first crewed
flight, the Demo-2, becoming the first private company to place a person into orbit.
Pictures of SpaceX presentation
Tesla
Tesla, Inc.—originally Tesla Motors—was incorporated in July 2003 by Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who
financed the company until the Series A round of funding. Both men played active roles in the company's early
development prior to Musk's involvement. Musk led the Series A round of investment in February 2004; he invested
$6.5 million, became the majority shareholder, and joined Tesla's board of directors as chairman. Musk took an
active role within the company and oversaw Roadster product design but was not deeply involved in day-to-day
business operations. Following a series of escalating conflicts in 2007 and the 2008 financial crisis, Eberhard was
ousted from the firm. Musk assumed leadership of the company as CEO and product architect in 2008. A 2009
lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others. As
of 2019, Elon Musk is the longest tenured CEO of any automotive manufacturer globally.
Tesla first built an electric sports car, the Roadster, in 2008. With sales of about 2,500 vehicles, it was the first serial
production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells.Tesla began delivery of its four-door Model S sedan in
2012; a cross-over, the Model X was launched in 2015. A mass market sedan, the Model 3 was released in 2017. As
of March 2020, it is the world's best-selling electric car, with more than 500,000 units delivered.A fifth vehicle, the
Model Y crossover, was launched in 2020. The Cybertruck, an all-electric pickup truck, was unveiled in 2019. Under
Musk, Tesla has also constructed multiple lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle subassembly factories, such
as Gigafactory 1 in Nevada and Gigafactory 3 in China.
Pictures of Tesla presentation
AWESOME
WORDS
“When something is important enough,
you do it even if the odds are not in your
favor.”
—Elon Musk
