Every Insane Fact You Never Knew About Elon Musk

Elon Musk may be famous for starting American businesses, but he actually hails from South Africa. He moved to Canada as a teenager and then came to the US for college.

After dropping out of grad school, he started his first company, Zip2. After working tooth and nail, he sold it for over $300 million in 1999.

Musk taught himself how to program at age 12. One of his first projects was a game called "Blastar." He sold it for $500.

When he was shopping around for funding, Musk couldn't muster any investment capital into SpaceX. So, instead of giving up, he put his own money into the startup. He's clearly proven those investors wrong since.

Musk isn't just known for Tesla and SpaceX. Before either of those ventures, he co-founded X.com. It was soon renamed to PayPal.

Elon Musk is known for founding the electric automaker, Tesla. It was the first automaker to successfully market an electric sports car. Before him, all previous attempts had failed.

Musk is living his dreams, both innovating and creating the outer space industry. Beforehand, it took cost $1 billion to reach the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX has reduced that cost to just $60 million.

Musk has five sons. A set of twins and a set of triplets. He's even named one of them after Professor X of the X-Men. A true nerd.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is one of the most successful franchises in history. It all kicked off with Tony Stark whom Elon Musk was the real-life inspiration for. Elon Musk is literally Tony Stark.

Elon Musk is committed to combating climate change. He believes it to be the single greatest threat to human civilization. He's also cited it as his main prerogative behind starting Tesla and SpaceX.

Elon is a real innovator in the outer space sector. He was awarded the Federation Aronautique Internationale Gold Space Medal in 2010 for developing the first private rocket to reach orbit. A massive achievement for humanity!

Musk has firsthand experience with U.S. immigration, being an immigrant himself. In fact, Despite going to college in the U.S., Musk didn't become and American citizen until he was 31.

Elon Musk dropped out of graduate school after only two days of attendance. The way he tells it, he thought it wasn't worth it anymore. He decided to get into the booming internet technology industry.

Tesla isn't just a clean car, it's a safe car. The Tesla Model S was given the highest safety rating ever awarded to a vehicle. The National Highway Administration gave it a 5.4 out of 5.

It's no secret that SpaceX and Tesla had numerous false starts. But after launch failures and production plagues, both Tesla and SpaceX came extremely close to failing. But Musk pulled himself up by his bootstraps and made them a success.

Elon Musk has a complicated romantic history. He has been married three times. Twice to the same woman, Talulah Riley.

There's a new word going around to describe Elon Musk and his ilk. A "thrillionaire." It's a club of high-tech entrepreneurs bent on birthing our sci-fi fantasies.

Elon Musk has signed a prestigious pledge. He's has signed "The Giving Pledge." A promise from the extremely wealthy to use the majority of their fortune to better humanity through charity.

Elon Musk went all super fanboy and had a submarine car called "Wet Nellie" custom built for him. It's based on the Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me." It's good to have money.

Space and Cars aren't the only industries Musk is involved in. Elon is the chairman and largest single shareholder of SolarCity, a company that provides solar powered products founded by his cousin.

Elon Musk isn't afraid of humor. He guest starred on an episode of "The Simpsons" playing himself. He seemed to have a great time poking fun at himself.

Elon Musk created the Musk Foundation. A non-profit organization which is committed to advancing clean energy and space exploration. Musk believes these two causes are of paramount importance.

Elon Musk is always looking to innovate. He's now set his eye on land travel. Musk's planned Hyperloop could hypothetically get you from Los Angeles to San Francisco in just 30 minutes.

Elon Musk was inspired by many inventors throughout history. But he always had an affinity for one. That's why he named Tesla Motors after Nikola Tesla.

Buzz Aldrin, Neal Armstrong; they're considered space heroes. Now, according to a Space Foundation survey, Elon Musk has earned that title. He was named Most Popular Space Hero.

Elon holds many degrees and doctorates due to his accomplishments. He was notably awarded honorary doctorates in Aerospace Engineering and Design by the University of Surrey and Art Center College of Design in California, respectively.

Hurricanes can do massive damage to area. Years after Katrina, some areas were still struggling. Musk donated solar power systems in 2010 that helped meet these people's needs.

Sometimes, Tesla or SpaceX faces a serious issue. At these times, Musk is known to sleep at the office, even sometimes living at Tesla plants. All in order to meet deadlines and keep the plant running.

Elon Musk's ultimate dream is to get people to Mars. In fact, he's taken it even further. Musk has gone so far as saying, "I'd like to die on Mars, just not on impact."

Musk has a ton on his plate. He seems to be very hands on. Those insights are validated knowing that he has a 100+ hour work week between Tesla Motors and SpaceX.

Ever wonder why Musk has so many projects? It's because that's where he puts his money. According to Musk, he doesn't build wealth for wealth's sake. He views money as a means to fulfill a purpose.

Being an immigrant entrepreneur himself, Musk supports fairly liberal immigration policies. He thinks that open and peaceful borders promotes the kind of ingenuity we need right now. Especially if we are to tackle the issues we face as a species.

There are four modes of transportation. Planes, trains, automobiles, and boats. But Musk wants to create a fifth mode. He want to create the Hyperloop. It's a land travel system that dramatically increases speeds.

Elon Musk's first shuttle at Space X was named "The Dragon." The name was a reference to "Puff The Magic Dragon." It was meant as a jab at those who thought his goals outlandish.

Upon the first successful shuttle launch, Musk put a wheel of cheese as a stow away. It was in honor of Monty Python's John Cleese. Musk is known to have an affinity for the comedy group and Cleese himself.

The SpaceX Falcon rockets have proven themselves quite an achievement. Believe it or not, they're legitimately named after the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. The man has fine taste.

According to Musk, failure is always a valid option. He believes that's integral to the progress of humanity. "If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough."

Musk wasn't given a handout like other billionaires. He's a self-made man. In the early years of Zip2, Elon only had enough money to rent out a bedroom, which also served as his office and headquarters for the company.

Musk doesn't actually like being a CEO. He doesn't feel super comfortable making the big decisions. He's an engineer at heart. He likes getting down in the details.

Elon Musk doesn't plan on retiring. According to the accomplished billionaire, he'd just get bored. That's not a bad thing, we need him to keep innovating!