Category Archives: Elon Musk

Elon Musk, Grimes' baby name 'X A-12' broken down

Entrepreneur Elon Musk and musical artist Grimes welcomed a baby boy, "X A-12," to the world. Here's a possible explanation of the name.

USA TODAY

Grimes has some choice words for critics of her partnerElon Musk.

The musicalartist, 33, took to TikTok Friday to shine a light onMusk's accomplishments and tell his hatersto "stop harassing me on this app over fake news."She and the SpaceX and Tesla mastermind, 50, share1-year-old son X A-Xii.

"I am not my bfs spokesperson," she added in the caption of her video, which sees her with CGI wings and a robot dog on her lap.

Throughout the video, Grimes pets the robot dogas text flashes onthe screen touting Musk.

"Is he hot or is he out to destroy big oil," reads one phrase. "Is he hot or will he put the first human on Mars," reads another.

The video also highlightsMusk's funding of a $100 million global competition for people to come up withsolutions that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and oceans.

"Is he hot or is he developing batteries that don't use cobalt thereby eliminating unethical mining practices from the supply chains for our cars and phones," reads another text phrase. The video ends with Grimes holding up a knife and smiling at the camera.

Grimes and Musk are no strangers to online criticism. In June, the singer received backlash fora TikTok in which she made a "proposition for the communists"to get on board withartificial intelligence.

"So, typically, most of the communists I know are not big fans of AI," she said."But, if you think about it, AI is actually the fastest path to communism."

According to Grimes, "if implemented correctly,"artificial intelligence could "theoretically solve for abundance."

"Like, we could totally get to a situation where nobody has to work, everybody is provided for with a comfortable state of being, comfortable living," she continued."AI could automate all the farming, weed out systemic corruption, thereby bringing us to, as close as possible, genuine equality."

Grimes, partner of richest person Elon Musk, has 'proposition for the communists' about AI

After she posted this video, many pointedout communism calls for wealth redistribution. Musk dethroned Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the world's richest personin January, according to Bloomberg.

"grimes getting into communism discourse on tiktok when their man is mayor of capitalism kinda kills me," wrote@beImonttrevor.

"excuse me if I don't take her rambling musings about what communists ought to do seriously," wrote@zei_squirrel.

Grimes now goes by 1 letter, says her and Elon Musk's 5-month-old son X A-XII enjoys 'radical art'

The couple welcomed their first child together in May 2020, withMusk sharinga photoof himself holding the newborn in the hospital.

When a user inquired about the baby's name, Muskreplied"X A-12 Musk." Their baby's name soon became a trending topic on Twitter as userssharedreactions and memes inspired by the unusual name.

Grimes latertweeteda breakdown of the moniker's meaning:

"X, the unknown variable

, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)

A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent

+ (A=Archangel, my favorite song) (metal rat)"

The stars are aligned: Grimes shares a starry new picture of sonX A-12 with Elon Musk

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Grimes comes for Elon Musk haters while petting robot dog: 'I am not my bfs spokesperson' - USA TODAY

When then-Vice President Mike PenceMichael (Mike) Richard Pence Infowars host faces misdemeanor charges over Capitol riot Pence headlines fundraiser for Youngkin in Virginia governor's race South Carolina GOP to hold Myrtle Beach event showcasing 2024 hopefuls MORE announced a deadline of 2024 for American astronauts to return to the moon, the decision was meant to infuse a new sense of urgency in NASAs latest attempt to return to the moon. However,as Defense One suggests, a couple of developments have cast doubt on whether that deadline is feasible.

First, the NASA inspector general has announced that the lunar crews spacesuits will not be ready by 2024. Also, the 100-day delay resulting from the protest filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) by Blue Origin and Dynetics concerning the award to SpaceX for the Human Landing System (HLS) is also placing the 2024 lunar landing in doubt. The GAO eventually found in favor of NASA and SpaceX. NASA duly paid SpaceX a down payment of$300 millionfor the lunar Starship. But the damage may have been done.

According to the Verge,Jeff BezosJeffrey (Jeff) Preston BezosAmazon planning large physical retail stores: report Bezos' Blue Origin sues NASA over award of lunar lander contract to Musk's SpaceX The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by AT&T - Biden defends Afghanistan exit; Taliban talk 'amnesty' MORE has filed suit in federal court challenging NASAs decision to give SpaceX a sole contract to build the lunar lander. The court hasgranted a stayon the further development of the lunar lander until Nov. 1, further casting the 2024 moon landing in doubt.Ars Technica suggeststhe lawsuit is already causing some blowback to Blue Origin, even within the organization.

Elon MuskElon Reeve MuskHillicon Valley: Key QAnon influencer 'GhostEzra' identified Tesla developing human-like 'friendly' robot to perform menial tasks Senators call for FTC investigation of Tesla's Autopilot feature MORE, who is preparing to send the latest version of the Starship into orbit on top of a Superheavy Rocket, seems to be taking the drama being caused by his rival in stride. The SpaceX CEOtook to Twitter and quipped, If lobbying & lawyers could get u to orbit, Bezos would be on Pluto.

Musk also made a couple of interesting promises that NASA needs to pay attention to. First,he suggested on Twitterthat SpaceX could develop a 21st-century moon suit if need be by 2024.Musk also suggestedthat the lunar Starship would be ready to take Americans back to the moon probably sooner than 2024.

In the meantime, Blue Origin has mounted a social media campaign attacking the SpaceX lunar Starship as too complex and too risky compared to the lunar lander proposed and rejected by NASA. One area of dispute seems to be how many launches of refueling Starships will be needed to take the lunar Starship to the lunar surface and back.According to WccfTech, both Blue Origin and the GAO claims that 14 refueling flights, one launch of an orbital fuel depot, and the lunar Starship itself would be needed. Musk disputes this assertion, claiming between four and eight refueling flights would be needed. Musk went on to suggest that even 16 flights would not be a problem, citing SpaceXs cadence flying the Falcon 9 multiple times in a short period of time.

Many things must happen in a short time, with or without Musks help, for NASA to make the 2024 deadline. The technical problems of building and flying the lunar Starship, creating a lunar surface spacesuit, and making sure that the Orion/Space Launch System stack can fly to lunar orbit and back are serious but not insurmountable. However, all is dependent on the Biden administration and Congress not getting a sudden attack of ADD and getting stingy on funding.

In the great scheme of things, it doesnt matter if Americans return to the moon in 2025, 2026, or some other future year, instead of in 2024, so long as they return. Marina Koren,writing for the Atlantic, suggests going slower is a good thing, the idea being that slower is safer for the astronauts. Whats the rush? she asks.

On the other hand, slower is also riskier because it adds to the possibility of cost overruns and schedule slippages. The International Space Station was over a decade behind schedule and suffered two near-death experiences in the halls of Congress. Fortunately,with the exception of Sen. Bernie Sanders(I-Vt.)and his allies, the Artemis program enjoys broad bipartisan support.

Koren also offers a little shade in the direction of former President Donald TrumpDonald TrumpDemocrats sound alarm over loss in Connecticut suburbs Abbott Laboratories directs employees to dispose of rapid COVID-19 test materials Sunday shows preview: Chaos in Kabul mars US evacuation efforts MORE, repeating the suggestion that the 2024 deadline was politically motivated, the theory being that a return to the moon would prove a capstone on his second term. But if the return to the moon does slip beyond 2024, Trump may have the last laugh. If he runs in 2024 and wins, Trump will still be the president who sees the Artemis astronauts off and welcomes them home. The irony would be delicious to some and bitter gall and wormwood to others.

Mark Whittington, who writes frequently about space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration entitledWhy is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?as well asThe Moon, Mars and Beyond, and, most recently,Why is America Going Back to the Moon?He blogs atCurmudgeons Corner. He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, the LA Times and the Washington Post, among other venues.

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Can SpaceX's Elon Musk help NASA get back to the moon by 2024 after all? | TheHill - The Hill

Its been a rollercoaster year among the very wealthiest, with Musk, Jeff Bezos and LVMHs Bernard Arnault all vying for the number one spot.

Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Bernard Arnault

A three-way race for the title of wealthiest person in the world intensified Thursday as Elon Musk, worth an estimated $177.4 billion at the days end, overtook French luxury magnate Bernard Arnault for second place. Arnault, who held pole position to start the week, got nearly $21 billion poorer over the past two days as LVMH shares tumbled 12.6%. That led to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos reclaiming the top spot with a fortune estimated at $185.5 billion.

Its been a rollercoaster year atop the billionaire ranks. Since January, the three have periodically jockeyed for the lead on Forbes real-time tracker of the worlds richest people, with each coming out on topand losing the titlemultiple times over the past eight months.

The constant shuffling is unusual. Over the first three decades after Forbes began tracking billionaires net worths in 1987, only six people held the title of worlds richest person. In the early years, two Japanese real estate mogulsYoshiaki Tsutsumi and Taikichiro Moritopped the list, until Bill Gates came along in the late 1990s. From 1997 to 2017, Gates dominated the list, save for a single year when Warren Buffett took the top spot (2008) and a three-year stint when Mexicos Carlos Slim Helu wrested the title (2010 through 2013). (Spanish retailer Amancio Ortega also grabbed the top spot for a few hours in 2015, and a couple days in 2016.)

In recent years, the longtime Microsoft chief, has found himself firmly outside the top three thanks to gifts of stock to his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, transfers of at least $5 billion worth of shares in public companies to his ex-wife Melinda French Gatesand the meteoric rise of Bezos, Musk and Arnault.

Since early 2017when Gates topped the Worlds Billionaires list with an $86 billion net worthBezos has added more than $110 billion to his fortune on the back of skyrocketing Amazon stock, Arnault has ridden LVMH shares 225% climb to more than quadruple his net worth and Musk has had the steepest climb in history, gaining more than $150 billion in four years as Tesla has become the most valuable carmaker on the planet.

Bezos, the longtime Amazon CEO and now executive chairman, has been the worlds richest for most of 2021. Bezos began the year in first place and, after briefly dropping to No. 2, he regained the No.1 spot for about four months from mid-January until May. Bezos returned to the top spot on June 10, and maintained the lead for 50 days before losing footing when Amazon announced disappointing quarterly earnings in late July, which wiped $13.9 billion from his net worth in a single day. Even as Amazons stock continues to falter, an even shakier performance by the stock of Arnaults LVMH helped Bezos to once again become the richest person on Wednesday.

Musks fortune has grown by more than $100 billion in one year, thanks to an extraordinary rise in the stock price of electric vehicle maker Tesla. After a brief drop at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, shares rocketed in subsequent months. On January 8, 2021with Tesla shares up more than 1,000% from the pandemic-period lowMusk first became the worlds richest person, overtaking Bezos. For about a week, the two traded places on a near-daily basis, but as Tesla stock began to fall, Bezos solidified his position once again. Musk, meanwhile, was overtaken by Arnault and dropped down to third place for months beginning in April.

Through predatory instinct, Arnault has built a luxury empire that is the largest company in Europe by market capitalization. His LVMH owns dozens of brands, including fashion mainstay Louis Vuitton, alcohol producer Hennessy and cosmetics retailer Sephora. Earlier this year, LVMH completed a $15.8 billion acquisition of jeweler Tiffany & Co., victorious after a contentious saga that began with an unsolicited takeover bid. Arnault first became the worlds richest person in May and, after some days of jostling, he managed to hold Bezos off for about two weeks. When shares in Amazon fell in late July, Arnault reclaimed the number one position and held on for most of August, before threats of Chinese wealth redistribution tanked European luxury stocks and caused Arnaults fortune to plunge by more than $20 billion this week.

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Elon Musk Is Now The Second Richest Person In The World It's been a rollercoaster year - Forbes

Spacecraft development is a risky and sometimes explosive business. SpaceX's Starship prototype spacecraft is an example of that. The fully reusable launch system for eventual moon-and-Mars trips is no stranger to explosions, ruptures and failed landings.

The supercut video above shows the main SpaceX failures (some intentional, others not so much) from Starship's early development. At 395 feet (120 meters) the stacked Starship and Super Heavy rocket is the world's tallest rocket, and Starship is designed to do complex flips and maneuvers upon landing.

Many of these failures happened, therefore, simply because Starship is a new system trying to do unusual things. All the same, the footage is clear (and entertaining) example of some of the challenges of spacecraft development. Learn more about each Starship failure and the "lessons learned" below.

Related: See the evolution of SpaceX's rockets in pictures

SpaceX's SN1 prototype burst apart during a pressure test on Feb. 28, 2020 at its launchpad near Boca Chica, Texas. At the time, the prototype was undergoing a liquid nitrogen pressure test. The midsection of the prototype buckled, then shot upward before smashing into the ground.

Video: Watch Starship SN1 burst apart in test

Company founder Elon Musk appeared to take the failure in stride and to be thinking ahead about strengthening SN2, according to a series of tweets posted shortly after the explosion. "So how was your night?" readone tweet, which accompanied a video of the prototype's death. This was followed by "It's fine, well just buff it out," and thenanother tweetthat said, "Where's Flextape when you need it!?"

Another cryogenic pressure test for prototype Starship SN3 (the SN2 test article was fine) did not go to plan, either. Starship SN3's prototype tank collapsed on April 2, 2020. SN3 was trying to show that it could withstand the high pressure of very cold fuel that is loaded in ahead of launch.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN3 collapse in test

In a tweet, Musk said that SN3 had passed an ambient temperature test the night before. "We will see what data review says in the morning, but this may have been a test configuration mistake," Musksaid in a follow-up post, adding in another tweet, "Some valves leaked at cryo temp. Fixing & will retest soon."

SpaceX's next prototype, Starship SN4, had a fiery explosion on May 29, 2020 very soon after a rocket engine test. The dramatic failure happened only a minute after a short test of its Raptor rocket engine, but immediately after the explosion it was unclear what caused the conflagration.Just like with past explosions, Musk kept saying the company keeps learning from each test and forging ahead.

Video: Watch Starship SN4 explode in a massive fireball

That said, the Starship SN4 was by far the longest-lived and most-tested Starship prototype at that time. SN4 survived five static-fire engine tests before exploding.

After the loss of Starship SN4, SpaceX developed the SN5 and SN6 prototypes before moving on to SN7, which the company intentionally pushed to failure.

The Starship SN7 prototype tank rupturedduring a pressure test on June 23, 2020 but this one was a planned failure. SN7 had finished another pressure test just a week before, resulting in a leak; the second test was far more showy given the planned explosion.

Video: Watch SpaceX pop the Starship SN7 tank on purpose

The first test of the SN7 Starship tank, which leaked but did not explode, was a promising sign for the program's development, Musk said in comments on June 15, 2020.The company is shifting from 301 stainless steel to 304L, he added.

The SN8 prototype made a dramatic flight on Dec. 9, 2020, successfully hitting several milestones before failing to stick the landing and erupting in a fireball. The prototype launched to an altitude of about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) using itsthree Raptor engines.

At peak altitude, the rocketshut down its engines and performed a "belly flop"for a glide to the launch pad.After firing its engines once more before touchdown to attempt an upright landing, though, the rocket landed too fast due to lower than expected fuel tank header pressure.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN8 launch and explode on landing

Musk was pleased with the progress. "SN8 did great!" Muskwrote on Twitter on Dec. 9. "Even reaching apogee would've been great, so controlling all the way to putting the crater in the right spot was epic."

SpaceX's Starship SN9 managed to climb even higher than SN8 on Feb. 2, 2021 before experiencing its own fiery explosion upon landing. It reached its target altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) and did a complex horizontal flip to simulate re-entry to Earth's atmosphere. But it hit the landing site too hard after 6.5 minutes of flight, resulting in a catastrophic end.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN9 crash hard in landing

"Again, we've just got to work on that landing a little bit,"SpaceXprincipal integration engineer John Insprucker saidduring SpaceX's launch webcast."We got a lot of good data, and the primary objective to demonstrate control of the vehicle in the subsonic re-entry looked to be very good, and we will take a lot out of that," he added.

Doing one better over its predecessor SN9, the prototype Starship SN10 soared to its planned altitude of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) on March 7, 2021, did the horizontal re-entry flip practice, and came back to the ground for a smooth touchdown. Unfortunately, some flames were visible near SN10's base shortly after landing and the vehicle soon exploded on the launch pad.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN10 ace its landing, then explode

Musk later said on Twitter that the spacecraft came in a little too fast for the landing, due to low thrust likely caused by an issue in the fuel header tank. The hard landing crushed the legs of the landing system, along with part of the engine skirt. The resulting damage led to the explosion a few minutes later.

On March 30, 2021, SpaceX's Starship SN11 lifted off in thick fog only to meet a similar fate of its SN10 predecessor.

Like SN10, Starship SN11 flew to an altitude of 6.2 miles (10 km) and then returned to Earth for a landing attempt. Six minutes into the flight, its onboard cameras cut out. Apparently, it exploded above the landing pad before making it back to Earth.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN11 launch in fog

"Looks like we've had another exciting test of Starship Number 11," John Insprucker, launch commentator for SpaceX, said during the broadcast. "Starship 11 is not coming back, do not wait for the landing."

Elon Musk later wrote that engine 2 of the three Raptor engines on Starship SN11 experienced problems during ascent that only got worse when it reignited for the landing burn. "Something significant happened shortly after landing burn start. Should know what it was once we can examine the bits later today," Musk wrote at the time on Twitter.

After the failure of Starship SN11, SpaceX stood down from launches for a time as it worked through several more iterations. Then, a breakthrough.

On May 5, 2021, SpaceX made a Starship triumph when its Starship SN15 prototype launched and landed safely, and didn't explode afterwards.

The test flight, which occurred on the 60th anniversary of the launch of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, showed off all the lessons SpaceX had learned to that point while developing Starship.

Video: Watch SpaceX's Starship SN15 launch and land safely

"SN15 has vehicle improvements across structures, avionics and software, and the engines that will allow more speed and efficiency throughout production and flight: specifically, a new enhanced avionics suite, updated propellant architecture in the aft skirt, and a new Raptor engine design and configuration," SpaceX representatives wrote in a description of the flight.

SpaceX has since moved on to more Starship prototypes and its booster, the Super Heavy, as it aims for a potential orbital flight. In August 2021, SpaceX stacked its Starship SN20 atop a Super Heavy for the first time, making the world's tallest rocket.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Every SpaceX Starship explosion and what Elon Musk and team learned from them (video) - Space.com

Elon Musk is to tout Tesla's advances in artificial intelligence on Aug. 19 at the company's "AI Day" event.

The timing of Elon Musks plan to promote gains Tesla is making in artificial intelligence and as a leader in the technology this week has grown somewhat awkward as the billionaire CEOs event will take place amid signs that tougher U.S. government scrutiny may be on the way.

Tesla is scheduled to livestream its AI Day event on Aug. 19, likely starting at 5 p.m. Eastern time. As was the case for 2020s Battery Day presentation and 2019s Autonomy Day, analysts and investors have been invited to join though, so far, news outlets have not been asked to participate.

The companys tech showcase comes days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened up its biggest investigation to date of Teslas Autopilot feature, centered around 11 crashes with emergency vehicles that resulted in numerous injuries and at least one fatality. In each of the collisions, either Autopilot or Teslas Traffic Aware Cruise Control were found to be in use. Then on Aug. 18 two U.S. Senate Democrats, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, asked the Federal Trade Commission to probe Teslas use of the terms Autopilot and Full Self Driving for its partially automated technology.

Teslas marketing has repeatedly overstated the capabilities of its vehicles, and these statements increasingly pose a threat to motorists and other users of the road, the senators said in a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan. Accordingly, we urge you to open an investigation into potentially deceptive and unfair practices in Teslas advertising and marketing of its driving automation systems and take appropriate enforcement action to ensure the safety of all drivers on the road.

Tesla, which no longer has a PR team, didnt respond to a request for comment, nor has it responded on its website or social media channels.

Autopilot, a feature of electric Teslas the company has promoted since 2014, has been linked to dozens of crashes and multiple fatalities, both in the U.S. and abroad. Those include a 2016 crash in Florida that killed Model S driver Joshua Brown and a fatal 2018 accident involving Silicon Valley engineer Walther Huang. NHTSA in January 2017 concluded its investigation into Browns crash without finding Tesla at fault. The family of the Model X driver Huang is suing Tesla, saying Autopilot is defective technology.

Tesla fan site Electrek, which apparently obtained an AI Day invitation, provided a few details about what to expect. This invite-only event will feature a keynote by Elon, hardware and software demos from Tesla engineers, test rides in Model S Plaid, and more, it said, citing the invitation. Attendees will be among the first to see our latest developments in supercomputing and neural network training. They will also get an inside look at whats next for AI at Tesla beyond our vehicle fleet.

Though news of the NHTSA investigation appeared to hammer Tesla shares earlier this week, the stock rose Wednesday, closing up 3.5% at $688.99 in Nasdaq trading. Its down 2.4% so far this year.

We believe Thursday became a much more important event for Tesla in light of this weeks FSD U.S. probe in order to show the software advancements and safety progress Tesla is aiming for over the next decade, said Dan Ives, an equity analyst for Wedbush Securities. The Street will be watching this event closely for hints around the future of AI, FSD, and technology advancements that further differentiates Tesla from rising competition in the EV space.

Teslas software and AI capabilities are key to the long-term bull thesis for the company, said Ives, who expects to hear updates on the Dojo supercomputer it's working on. This week has been another tough week for Tesla and the Street needs some good news heading into this AI event.

Safety advocates have raised concerns that the Autopilot name suggests the driver-assistance feature can lead many users to place too much confidence in it. Thats been borne out by numerous Tesla owners posting videos over the years treating Autopilot as an autonomous system, with some sleeping at the wheel or even sitting in the back seat while traveling down the highway. Autopilot is an 2 Advanced Driver Assistance System, or ADAS, and the company warns users that they are to remain ready to take control of the vehicle at all times.

A German court determined in 2020 that calling the system Autopilot was misleading and banned Tesla from using both that term and Full Self Driving for vehicles sold in that market.

There are no fully autonomous vehicles currently available on the market,Markey and Blumenthal said in their letter. Understanding these limitations is essential, for when drivers expectations exceed their vehicles capabilities, serious and fatal accidents can and do result.

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Elon Musks Plan To Tout Tesla AI Comes As Tougher Scrutiny Of The Company Looms - Forbes

The Netflix streaming platform will offer "unprecedented access" and broadcast in "near real time" the next space mission of SpaceX, Elon Musk's aerospace company.

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September 15, 2021is the scheduled date for the launch of the Inspiration4 mission, the first to send a ship occupied only by civilians into space. The space travel aboard a rocket from SpaceX, Elon Musk's aerospace company, will be broadcast on Netflix in "near real time."

This Thursday, the streaming platform announced the launch of the documentary series Countdown: The Inspiration4 Mission to Space.Over five chapters, it will offer "unprecedented access" to the first space flight with a crew of only non-professional passengers.

Related: Jeff Bezos Did It: NASA Suspends Elon Musk's Contract With SpaceX Due to Demand From Blue Origin

The first two episodes will premiere on Friday, September 6 and will focus on introducing the four members of the crew.

On September 13, the next two chapters will be available andwill deal with the long months of training and the final preparations before the flight. The launch will be streamed live from Netflix's YouTube channel.

The last episode willpremiere in late September, "just a few days after" the mission ends, Netflix said in a statement.

This final chapter will follow the"almost in real time"journey from the launch of the spacecraft to its return to Earth. The platform promises "unprecedented access" to the mission, as it will feature images from inside the spacecraft during the three-day journey.

Related: Would You Be Willing to Die for the Conquest of Mars? NASA Is Looking for Volunteers to Simulate Life on the Red Planet, See the Requirements

The series will be directed by Jason Hehir, director of the Emmy Award-winning documentary The Last Dance.

On September 15, the SpaceX Dragon capsule will be launched by a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, United States.

Related: Grimes Shares a Rare Video of Her and Her Son With Elon Musk

American billionaire Jared Isaacman,38, funded the project. In addition to owning a financial company, the tycoon is also an enthusiastic pilot and space explorer, so he will go aboard the rocket and offered the other places to three companions.

Those chosen to go with Isaacman into space are Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a survivor of pediatric cancer; Chris Sembroski, 41, a former U.S. Air Force officer; and Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old teacher.

The four non-professional crew members will take off in Elon Musk's spacecraft, spend three days orbiting Earth beyond the altitude of the ISSand return to Earth.

The SpaceX spacecraft has already transported astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. Also, other untrained tourists have already been in space, but were accompanied by professional astronauts.However, the Inspiration4 mission will be the first not to include any professional astronauts, and its crew will be made up entirely of civilian tourists.

Related: Why the Asteroid Psyche 16 Is Worth More Than the Entire Global Economy of Planet Earth

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Elon Musk Teams Up With Netflix to Stream SpaceX Space Mission in 'Near Real Time' - Entrepreneur

Meme-inspired cryptocurrency dogecoin surged on Monday morning, hitting 35 cents. It's now trading at around 33 cents and is up 10% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.

This boost came after billionaire investor Mark Cuban told CNBC Make It last week that "the community for doge is the strongest when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange." On Twitter, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said that he agrees.

"I've been saying this for a while," Musk tweeted on Saturday.

In May, Musk tweeted that he has been working with dogecoin developers to "improve system transaction efficiency." Musk also reportedly told a dogecoin developerthat his goal is to make dogecoin easy enough to use that investors could use it to pay for a cup of coffee.

"The point is that dogecoin was invented as a joke as essentially to make fun of cryptocurrency," Musktold TMZ in May. "Fate loves irony. What would be the most ironic outcome? The currency that started as a joke in fact becomes the real currency."

Musk consistently supports the dogecoin community. He has tweeted countless dogecoin memes, which have seemingly impacted its price.

Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank."

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Dogecoin rallies after Elon Musk agrees with Mark Cuban that it's the 'strongest' cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange - CNBC

It wasn't an ideal Thursday for Apple News when Tesla CEO Elon Musk confessed that he had discontinued following Apple News.

Apple News is the Cupertino-based company's news aggregator platform that helps optimise content for iOS, macOS, iPadOS and watchOS users. Articles from various known news publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, People, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Vogue etc also find a place on the platform. While Apple News focuses on every-day news, Apple News Plus has a collection of detailed magazine-style feature stories.

On Friday, Ross Gerber - who is the President and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management - took to Twitter to express his disappointment at Apple News. Calling it a major source of negativity in his life, the investment advisor, in his post, mentioned that he had cancelled Apple News.

Soon after, the company saw itself in a legal battle with the Fortnite creator Epic Games for allegedly abusing the market dominance for mobile apps. Calling Epic right, Musk said the App Store commission was "a de facto global tax on the Internet".

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Elon Musk just confessed to cancelling Apple News. Here's why - Economic Times

Before he ever tried building electric cars or sending people to Mars, Elon Musk attempted to get a job at Netscape, an early web browser company. But Musk had the wrong credentials for a software startup, and the wrong personality to chat his way into a job. So they didn't even respond to his job application.

For Netscape, passing on Musk was an obvious mistake in hindsight. He turned out to be one of the most original thinkers of our time. Meantime, Netscape lost Browser Wars, and was acquired by AOL in 1999. Its browserwas discontinued in 2008, although it partly lives on in the Firefox browser. For Musk, not getting the job he wanted turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. It should serve as inspiration for every aspiring entrepreneur.

Musk told this story in a 2012interview with entrepreneur Kevin Rose that was highlighted in 2018 by CNBC. He told Rose that he'd always known he wanted to invent or create things, but not particularly start a company. In fact, Musk had wanted to work at a particle accelerator before the U.S. government pulled the plug on the Superconducting Super Collider.

He first came to Silicon Valley to do graduate studies at Stanford in applied physics and materials science. "In '95, I kind of thought the internet was something that would change the world in a major way and I wanted to be part of it," he told Rose. "Actually, what I first tried to do was I tried to get a job at Netscape. I wouldn't actually try to start a company."

Fortunately for Musk, that didn't work out."I didn't get any reply," he said. Musk had degrees in physics and business, but he didn't have a computer science degree or experience working at a software company, he explained, which may be why Netscape took no interest in him.

He also didn't have the gift of gab. Musk tried hanging out in the lobby at Netscape to see if he could strike up an acquaintance that would help him get in the door--a strategy that can be very successful. There was just one problem--Musk couldn't do it. "I was too shy to talk to anyone," he said. "It was pretty embarrassing. I was just sort of standing there trying to see if there's someone I could talk to and then I just couldn't. I was too scared to talk to anyone. So then I left." More recently, Musk revealed that he has Asperger's disorder, which often causes social awkwardness and may have made it harder for him to start a conversation.

But if he couldn't get in the door at Netscape, Musk still knew what he wanted to do. He spent therest of the summer writing software but when fall came around, he had to choose--try starting a company or attend Stanford.

"I figured, if I start a company and it doesn't work, I can always go back to grad school," he said. "So I talked to the chairman of the department and he let me go on deferment. I said I'll probably be back in six months and he said he was probably never going to hear from me again. And he was correct. I've never spoken to him since."

Musk went on to co-found Zip2 which developed internet city guides for newspapers. Compaq acquired Zip2 in early 1999. That same year, Musk co-founded X.com which later became PayPal and was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion (eBay spun it off in 2015.) That made Musk a millionaire a hundred times over and gave him the funding, the credibility, and the confidence to pursue his biggest dreams.

It's odd to think what might have happened, though, if whoever reviewed Musk's job application had been able to recognize his genius, or if Musk had been better at talking to strangers. We might be living in a world without Teslas, and Netscape Navigator mightbe our browser of choice.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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Would You Have Hired a 24-Year-Old Elon Musk? | Inc.com - Inc. - Inc.

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., right, departs from court for the SolarCity trial in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., on Monday, July 12, 2021.

Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sniped at Silicon Valley neighbor Apple twice during a conference call to discuss Tesla earnings on Monday.

Although the companies don't compete directly today, Apple is reportedly building an electric self-driving vehicle under a project code-named Titan, and has attracted a number of engineers and executives away from Tesla. The Titan project is reportedly run by Doug Field, who returned to Apple in 2018 after five years at Tesla.

When asked about Tesla's supply chain, Musk said that there's a misperception that Tesla uses a lot of cobalt, a key material in the production of lithium-ion cells used in both smartphones and electric cars.

"Apple uses I think almost 100% cobalt in their batteries and cell phones and laptops, but Tesla uses no cobalt in the iron-phosphate packs, and almost none in the nickel-based chemistries," Musk said. "On on a weighted-average basis we might use 2% cobalt compared to say, Apple's 100% cobalt. Anyway, so it's just really not a factor."

Some cobalt mined in places like the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been linked to human rights abuses such as child labor. In 2019, Apple, in addition to Tesla and other major technology companies, was named as defendants in a human rights lawsuit, according to The Guardian.

In a conflict minerals report published earlier this year, Apple said it publishes a list of all conflict minerals and cobalt smelters and refiners, and all of Apple's cobalt suppliers participated in audits in 2020. An Apple representative didn't return a request for comment.

Later in the call, Musk made a crack about Apple's so-called "walled garden," which is named because Apple strictly controls what software can be installed on the iPhone through its App Store. Apple's walled garden is facing scrutiny from lawmakers and other companies, including in an antitrust trial that took place earlier this year after it was sued by Epic Games over App Store fees and policies.

"I think we do want to emphasize that our goal is to support the advent of sustainable energy," Musk said in response to a question about letting competitors use its charger network. "It is not to create a walled garden and use that to bludgeon our competitors which is used by some companies."

Musk then faked a cough and said, "Apple."

During the call, Musk said he likely would not appear on future Tesla earnings calls unless he has "something really important" that he needs to say.

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Elon Musk snipes at Apple twice on Tesla earnings call - CNBC