Elon Musk, who helped found PayPal and served as its CEO, currently runs two companies: Rocket manufacturer SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla Motors, which went public earlier this year.
After getting into a legal dispute with his first car designer, Musk took over the duties himself. The result? The Tesla Roadster, a battery powered sports car that goes from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds. Tesla will release its next car, the Model S, in 2012.
In addition to being SpaceX's CEO, Musk heads up the design of the company's Falcon 9 rocket, which first launched successfully in June. The company has a $1.2 billion contract to provide launch services to NASA.
Well, not exactly. But Musk was the inspiration for the Hollywood 2008 adaptation of Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., and he even enjoyed a cameo appearance in the 2010 sequel, Iron Man 2.
Elon Musk's ultimate plan for SpaceX is to build rockets that will be capable of carrying humans to Mars. By 2030, he hopes to go himself. His chief concern, in fact, is that by the time humanity is ready to go to Mars, he will be too old. "I don't want to be doddering around up there, needing a quadruple bypass," he says.
