As CEO and Chief Designer, Elon Musk oversees development of rockets and spacecraft for missions to Earth orbit and ultimately to other planets. The SpaceX Falcon 1 was the first privately developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit. In 2008, SpaceX won a NASA contract to use its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to commercially provide the cargo transport function of the space shuttle, which was retired in 2011. In 2010, SpaceX became the first commercial company to successfully recover a spacecraft from Earth orbit with its Dragon spacecraft. And in 2012, SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle to successfully attach to the International Space Station and return cargo to Earth.
Prior to SpaceX, Elon cofounded PayPal, the world's leading Internet payment system, and served as the company's Chairman and CEO. Before PayPal, Elon cofounded Zip2, a provider of Internet software to the media industry.
He has a Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts in business from the Wharton School.
