Elon Musk – Education, Tesla & SpaceX – Biography

In pages 181-211 we see the financial struggles of SpaceX and Tesla. After SapceX' second failed launch they had begun to start rapidly loose money along with Tesla who was being torn apart by the press and was also loosing astronomical amounts of money. Musk had begun to sell some of his cars and other valuable possessions for some extra cash for SpaceX and Tesla but then his wife Justine had filed a divorce against him. The settlement had cost him his house and 6 million dollars and various stocks in Tesla and SpaceX.

When the financial crisis of 2008 rolled around they were in trouble , losing about 4 million a day he had to start borrowing money and begging for investments from an already depleted and dilapidated economy. Musk refused to give up on his companies that he worked so hard for and was not going to roll over and die, he scraped together 20 million and tried to get a firm to match is 20 million they purposely did not sigh a portion of the agreement and would not sign it so if Tesla went bankrupt it would become their company and would probably get sold to a Detroit automaker. After being told no he decided to invest the 20 million and some other cash that they had acquired and put it into the dying company. For any normal human the stresses of handling two dying companies (financially) would have been too much to handle he did not falter and his decisions were each the right one and each had purpose and intent and he saved these two companies when no one thought he could.

In pages 97-143 we see the beginning of SpaceX and its first rocket the falcon 1. The main principle musk founded SpaceX upon was that he wanted to make rockets cheaper than what was currently available with the ULA(united launch alliance). Although he had no experience with rockets or how to build them he turned to the books and got to work. Musks idea was to build and machine the rockets entirely in house and also reducing cost as well. Elon had purchased a plot of land in Texas where SpaceX could conduct tests in the open and they had spent a considerable amount of time testing the rockets. When SpaceX finally deemed the rockets ready to fly they were only allowed to fly the new rockets down in Kwaj as a safety precaution. SpaceX had launched the Falcon 3 times consecutively and failed but the 4th and 5th had succeeded. The adversity that SpaceX had faced on the island had been beneficial to the image of the company and showed that they could face any challenge.

In Pages 75-96 is explaining the beginning of a company called PayPal. Musk had a revolutionary wanted to create a full service bank with everything like checking accounts, brokers and even insurance through a high security server in a time where many people were not comfortable buying things online.He also revolutionized the idea of sending money directly to others but via email at this time. But PayPal had eventually caught on and Sold to ebay and became Musks first major success bringing in 1.5 Billion for the sale.

In pages 45 to 55 it goes into details about his life starting in Canada. His Great uncle lived in Montreal and Elon decided to go there , and when he was on the train to Montreal his mother had told him that his great uncle had moved to Minnesota he was without a place to stay. Elon ended up staying at a youth hostel and decided to contact some of his mothers family members who lived in Canada. While in Canada he was unemployed and learned the value of working hard and a series of jobs like tending to vegetables and cleaning out the boiler room. Most importantly of his time in Canada he enrolled in queens University and attracted attention of people with his essays ans speeches about electric and solar power alternatives.

In pages 25-45 we see insight to Elon Musks' early childhood. Elon Musk was not a normal kid where the normal inclination was a rather jockey type but elon was a rather shy and geeky and preferred to keep to himself. Elon was a veracious reader and refused to stop reading and had a imagination like no other. As a 12 year old Elon programmed and published his first video game called Blastar, something that not many other kids back then did. Often in his spare time Elon would often hang out with his older brother Kimbal and conduct extremely dangerous experiments

Such as homemade rockets which they would fly against each other and also play in dungeons and dragons tournaments.School was not a great place for Musk as he was a prime target for bullies and he bounced around a number of different schools. When he was 17 Musk decided to move to Canada and go to college and eventually move and become a citizen of the U.S

In pages 25-45 we see insight to Elon Musks' early childhood. Elon Musk was not a normal kid where the normal inclination was a rather jockey type but elon was a rather shy and geeky and preferred to keep to himself. Elon was a veracious reader and refused to stop reading and had a imagination like no other. As a 12 year old Elon programmed and published his first video game called Blastar, something that not many other kids back then did. Often in his spare time Elon would often hang out with his older brother Kimbal and conduct extremely dangerous experiments such as homemade rockets which they would fly against each other and also play in dungeons and dragons tournaments.School was not a great place for Musk as he was a prime target for bullies and he bounced around a number of different schools. When he was 17 Musk decided to move to Canada and go to college and eventually move and become a citizen of the U.S

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