Ryan Nagelhout - Elon Musk: Space Entrepreneur

Published in 2017 by

Lucent Press, an Imprint of Greenhaven Publishing, LLC

353 3rd Avenue

Suite 255

New York, NY 10010

Copyright 2017 Lucent Press, an Imprint of Greenhaven Publishing, LLC.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Designer: Deanna Paternostro

Editor: Katie Kawa

Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nagelhout, Ryan.

Title: Elon Musk: space entrepreneur / Ryan Nagelhout.

Description: New York : Lucent Press, 2017. | Series: People in the news| Includes index.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781534560352 (library bound) | ISBN 9781534560369 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Musk, Elon--Juvenile literature. | Businesspeople--United States--Biography--Juvenile literature. | Businesspeople--South Africa--Biography--Juvenile literature.

Classification: HC102.5.M88 N34 2017 | DDC 332.178--dc23

Printed in the United States of America

CPSIA compliance information: Batch #CW17KL: For further information contact Greenhaven Publishing LLC, New York, New York at 1-844-317-7404.

Please visit our website, www.greenhavenpublishing.com . For a free color catalog of all our high-quality books, call toll free 1-844-317-7404 or fax 1-844-317-7405.

Foreword

W e live in a world where the latest news is always available and where it seems we have unlimited access to the lives of the people in the news. Entire television networks are devoted to news about politics, sports, and entertainment. Social media has allowed people to have an unprecedented level of interaction with celebrities. We have more information at our fingertips than ever before. However, how much do we really know about the people we see on television news programs, social media feeds, and magazine covers?

Despite the constant stream of news, the full stories behind the lives of some of the worlds most newsworthy men and women are often unknown. Who was Taylor Swift before she was a pop music phenomenon? What does LeBron James do when he is not playing basketball? What inspired Elon Musk to dream as big as he does?

This series aims to answer questions like these about some of the biggest names in pop culture, sports, politics, and technology. While the subjects of this series come from all walks of life and areas of expertise, they share a common magnetism that has made them all captivating figures in the public eye. They have shaped the world in some unique way, andin many casesthey are poised to continue to shape the world for many years to come.

These biographies are not just a collection of basic facts. They tell compelling stories that show how each figure grew to become a powerful public personality. Each book aims to paint a complete, realistic picture of its subjectfrom the challenges they overcame to the controversies they caused. In doing so, each book reinforces the idea that even the most famous faces on the news are real people who are much more complex than we are often shown in brief video clips or sound bites. Readers are also reminded that there is even more to a person than what they present to the world through social media posts, press releases, and interviews. The whole story of a persons life can only be discovered by digging beneath the surface of their public persona, and that is what this series allows readers to do.

The books in this series are filled with enlightening quotes from speeches and interviews given by the subjects, as well as quotes and anecdotes from those who know their story best: family, friends, coaches, and colleagues. All quotes are noted to provide guidance for further research. Detailed lists of additional resources are also included, as are timelines, indexes, and unique photographs. These text features come together to enhance the reading experience and encourage readers to dive deeper into the stories of these influential men and women.

Fame can be fleeting, but the subjects featured in this series have real staying power. They have fundamentally impacted their respective fields and have achieved great success through hard work and true talent. They are men and women defined by their accomplishments, and they are often seen as role models for the next generation. They have left their mark on the world in a major way, and their stories are meant to inspire readers to leave their mark, too.

Introduction

Comic Book Comparisons

C omic book characters are not real. The characters you may read about in comics or see in movies based on them are just thatcharacters. Comic book writers try to make many of their characters something more than just human. They create beings capable of things not thought to be possible by an ordinary man or woman.

If there was one person worthy of comic book comparisons, however, Elon Musk is not a bad pick. Many have compared him to Tony Stark, the billionaire inventor and wearer of the suit that has created the famous superhero Iron Man. Musk himself has not become a superhero, but he has created a growing empire full of superhuman ambitions.

Musk hopes that carsboth affordable and luxury modelswill become electric, driverless, and safer than any car controlled by a human being. Perhaps more interestingly, he wants humans to establish lasting legacies on places beyond Earth. Musks SpaceX company has taken on the challenge of keeping the International Space Station (ISS) supplied and manned, and he is already looking farther into space. He wants to land humans on Mars and create a safe and secure compound on the Red Planet.

Musks ambitionmuch like that of the fictional billionaire Starkhas exceeded the known capabilities of humans to this point in historyand yet he has shown the hope, drive, and vision to create something more.

Elon Musks goals might seem like something out of a futuristic comic book, but he hopes to make them very real.

What Musk has developed that so many of the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley lack is a meaningful worldview, wrote biographer Ashlee Vance in Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. Vance continued,

Hes the possessed genius on the grandest quest anyone has ever concocted. Hes less a CEO chasing riches than a general marshaling troops to secure victory. Where (Facebook founder) Mark Zuckerberg wants to help you share baby photos, Musk wants to ... well ... save the human race from self-imposed or accidental annihilation.1

Like most superheroes from the pages of comic books, Musk wants to save people and create a better world, and he plans to do these things using technological advances that also seem to be straight out of the pages of fiction.

Working with Iron Man

Much like Tony Stark, Elon Musk has enjoyed his wealth and growing fame. Fast cars, big houses, and jets have become a staple of Musks public persona. The fictional and real billionaires have actually crossed paths on the big screen, when Musk appeared in the film Iron Man 2, talking to Tony Stark about an electric jet. Musk also reportedly helped actor Robert Downey Jr. get into character before he began filming as Tony Stark. Meeting Musk helped the actor make his character feel more realistic, and it has been said that the film version of Tony Stark is basically a heightened version of Musk.