<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://twitter.com/jbwagoner/status/1178056225226932225">JB Wagoner/Twitter</a></span></p><p class="caption">JB Wagoner says he's an aspiring space entrepreneur and a "big fan" of SpaceX. Behind him is Starship Mark 1.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a> on Saturday shared <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-starship-mars-rocket-update-mars-colonization-texas-2019-9">SpaceX's updated plan</a> for a towering launch system called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/starship">Starship</a>.</li><li>Musk journeyed to the rocket company's launch site in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/boca-chica">Boca Chica</a>, Texas, to deliver his remarks, and scores of passionate fans followed him to the area.</li><li>JB Wagoner, a "big fan" of the company, took close-up photos of a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/spacex">SpaceX</a> prototype called Starhopper on Sunday. But hours later the Cameron County Sheriff's Department called and told Wagoner to turn himself in on suspicion of criminal trespassing.</li><li>Some large sections of chain-link fence that previously barred public access to the launch site appeared to have been detached. Wagoner says he didn't see any "no trespassing" signs before approaching and photographing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/starhopper">Starhopper</a>.</li><li>Wagoner, who is now out of jail on bond, is an aspiring space technology entrepreneur that's drawing up plans for a Mars habitat analog in Iceland. He said he wants "a good relationship with SpaceX," and hopes the charge is dropped.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Passionate photographers will often edge as close as they can to their subjects to frame the perfect shot.</p><p>But over the weekend, JB Wagoner - a California resident, Tesla electric-car owner, aspiring space technology entrepreneur, and self-described "big fan" of SpaceX - was accused of getting too close to a muse of many spaceflight enthusiasts: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-launch-video-youtube-live-video-feed-2019-8">Starhopper</a>, a rocket ship at the aerospace company's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-boca-chica-texas-launch-site-spaceport-corporation-eminent-domain-2019-9">private launch site</a> in Boca Chica, Texas.</p><p>Within hours of photographing the six-story steel vehicle, Wagoner said, he found himself spending time behind bars.</p><p>"I get arrested, I get taken to jail, and spent the night with seven other guys in a 12-by-16 [foot] concrete cell, sleeping on the floor," Wagoner told Business Insider.</p><h2>South Texas has become a mecca for fans of SpaceX</h2><p>SpaceX built and launched Starhopper earlier this year at its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-rocket-site-boca-chica-texas-faa-written-reevaluation-2019-8">rapidly evolving</a> spaceport, located at the southern tip of the state. The vehicle, now <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-rocket-ship-final-launch-starship-plans-2019-8">retired</a> and gutted, was a crucial first prototype for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-mars-starship-spacex-starhopper-rocket-moon-2019-6">Starship</a>, which is SpaceX's planned 39-story reusable rocket system that may one day ferry 100 humans at a time to the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-mars-landing-sites-map-hirise-2019-9">surface of Mars</a>.</p><p>Starhopper currently sits in a launch site that's adjacent to a public road and beach, making it a magnet for streams of curious onlookers since its completion and move to the site in early 2019.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_RC19CC4DAE80&amp;share=true">Callaghan O'Hare/Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">SpaceX's Elon Musk gives an update on the company's Mars rocket Starship in Boca Chica, Texas, on September 28, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Elon Musk, the company's founder and CEO, delivered a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-starship-presentation-youtube-livestream-video-texas-2019-9">highly anticipated talk</a> about Starship from the Boca Chica site on Saturday. During that event, he also unveiled the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-mark-1-mk1-steel-rocket-ship-construction-2019-9">Starship Mark 1 prototype</a>, a shiny 16-story follow-up to Starhopper, and shared a fresh version of the company's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-starship-mars-rocket-update-mars-colonization-texas-2019-9">vision to populate the red planet</a>.</p><p>Like other space enthusiasts, Wagoner traveled from California to Texas to see the Mk 1 vehicle and hopefully see Musk's presentation. Unable to secure an invitation, though, he settled for watching the talk from afar at a residence in nearby <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-texas-starship-launch-site-development-challenges-2019-6">Boca Chica Village</a>.</p><p>Wagoner took the photo at the beginning of this story in front of the Mk 1 prototype.</p><p>Saturday, when Musk gave his talk, was a good day for Wagoner; it was Sunday when he said his troubles began.</p><h2>Fencing goes down, fencing goes up</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/spacexs-starhopper-rocket-is-seen-at-the-companys-texas-news-photo/1171862758">Loren Elliott/Getty Images</a></span></p><p class="caption">SpaceX's Starhopper rocket prototype at the company's South Texas launch facility in Boca Chica on September 28, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Like many others before him, Wagoner said, he wanted to get a good look at Starhopper, which made its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starhopper-launch-video-youtube-live-video-feed-2019-8">final launch in August</a>.</p><p>So after parking his rental car at nearby Boca Chica Beach, a popular public shore area among locals, Wagoner said he hiked over some sand dunes, approached SpaceX's launch site from its east side, and walked up to Starhopper. He took up-close photos of the gutted rocket ship, then later publicly posted some to Facebook.</p><p>Within four hours of uploading those images, and as he was readying to leave for the airport, Wagoner said he received a surprise call on his mobile phone from a sergeant at the Cameron County Sheriff's Department. According to Wagoner, the sergeant on the line said he would not make his flight - because he should turn himself in for arrest.</p><p>"He says, 'They say that you trespassed and we have to file criminal trespassing charges against you,'" Wagoner told Business Insider.</p><p>Sheriff Omar Lucio, the county's head law-enforcement official, told Business Insider on Wednesday that SpaceX pressed charges and his department filed them against Wagoner.</p><p>"The reason for that is simple. They [SpaceX] have a lot of equipment and chemicals out there. It's for the safety of the public," Lucio said, adding: "It may be hard for them to see someone by their spaceship and taking photos. It was disturbing to them."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2019%3Anewsml_RC17E5EF1930&amp;share=true">Trevor Mahlmann/Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">Starhopper - SpaceX's first Mars Starship prototype - hovers over its launchpad during a test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, on August 27, 2019.</p></div><p></p></div></div>After the call, Wagoner promptly reported for questioning at the sheriff's department in Brownsville, the nearest city, which is about 17 miles west of Boca Chica. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) interviewed him about the alleged incident because it was at a spaceport, Wagoner said, but they did not file any federal charges.</p><p>However, the sergeant who called in Wagoner and questioned him ultimately arrested the out-of-towner on suspicion of criminal trespassing, a Class B misdemeanor in Texas. The offense is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine, according to the <a href="https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PE/htm/PE.30.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Texas penal code</a>.</p><p>"He showed me pictures of a 'no trespassing' sign on a fence, and I said, 'I'm not in that picture. And I don't know where that is from,'" Wagoner said. "And he said, 'Well it's there, so you had to see it.' And I said, 'I wasn't there, and I didn't see it.'"</p><p>When Business Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk-texas-starship-mars-launch-site-pictures-2019-5">visited SpaceX's launch site in April</a>, chain-link fencing did cordon off the entire compound from the public with some "no trespassing" signs attached to it. However, photos of the area taken on Saturday and Sunday, and obtained by Business Insider, show most of the chain-link fencing on the east side of the launch site, and much of it on the south side, was somehow detached from its support poles and laying down in the sand. Photos of the same area taken on Monday (after Wagoner's arrest), and obtained by Business Insider, showed chain-link fencing reattached to its poles.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starship-rocket-site-boca-chica-texas-faa-written-reevaluation-2019-8">New documents reveal SpaceX's plans for launching Mars-rocket prototypes from South Texas</a></em></p><p>Wagoner told Business Insider he didn't see any "no trespassing" signs after hiking over the beach dunes on Sunday, so he walked to the Starhopper landing pad, took some up-close photos, and then returned to the public beach.</p><p>"I was never approached by anyone from security. I saw people working in the distance," he said. "At no time did anyone say, 'Oh, you're not supposed to be here' or approach me in any way."</p><p>Wagoner later said "a child could have easily done what I did."</p><p>"I didn't think I did anything wrong. I posted the pictures on Facebook. If I thought I did something wrong, I wouldn't have posted them," he added. (Wagoner said he's since taken down the images to avoid causing more trouble.)</p><p>Lucio said he understood "the fence was being repaired and replaced" at the launch site at the time Wagoner took his photos, but added: "Just because a sign is down doesn't mean you can go there." (Lucio could not immediately confirm if the arresting officer had personally seen the state of SpaceX's fencing when he questioned Wagoner on Sunday.)</p><p>Following Wagoner's arrest, a relative who asked not to be named said they posted a $4,000 bond to release him. Wagoner said he left a detention facility on Monday around 3 p.m. CT after spending roughly 20 hours in custody. Wagoner said he does not yet have a court date, and a representative for the Cameron County District Attorney said she was unable to provide any documents related to Wagoner's arrest.</p><h2>Wagoner is working on Mars life-support concepts that he hopes to show Musk and SpaceX</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://marscityshop.com/press-release-the-winners-of-mars-city-design-challenges-2018">Mars City Design; Mars Colony X/J. Bohn Associates</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of the Mars Colony X team's regenerative life support system idea that won a first-place award in the 2018 Mars City Design competition.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Wagoner sees the arrest as "kind of a nightmare situation" because he's helping develop technologies that he thinks may be useful to SpaceX in its quest to conquer Mars.</p><p>In 2018, for example, Wagoner was part of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/marscolonyx/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">"Mars Colony X" team</a> in the Mars City Design competition. He and his teammates <a href="https://marscityshop.com/press-release-the-winners-of-mars-city-design-challenges-2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">won first place</a> for their "Marschitecture" concept to keep people alive on the red planet.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Courtesy of JB Wagoner</span></p><p class="caption">Mars Colony X has redesigned its habitat concept to accommodate SpaceX's Starship rocket.</p></div><p></p></div></div>"Mars Colony X proposes using a modified SpaceX rocket as a primary base element covered by an ice dome to protect from radiation and dust on the surface," according to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/marscolonyx/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Facebook page</a> for the group. "Each building is a self-contained habitat where crops are grown in vertical aquaponic gardens along the inside surface of the dome. LED lights provide supplemental light to speed growth and oxygen production. Algae CO2 scrubbers freshen air and provide useful byproducts in this sustainable, circular economy."</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-colonization-human-survival-radiation-food-biosphere-2018-4">Life in a bubble: How we can fight hunger, loneliness, and radiation on Mars</a></em></p><p>These and similar concepts are known broadly as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronaut-plants-air-food-water-life-support-2018-5">regenerative life support</a>, since they can ostensibly turn waste into food, convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen, and cleanse water with little to no outside input aside from energy.</p><p>When a CBS <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> reporter asked Musk about SpaceX's need for such a system on Starship missions during Saturday's event, Musk said: "I think for sure you'd want to have a regenerative life support system."</p><p>Wagoner said the team has since refined the concept to accommodate Starship and separate greenhouses and is working with officials in Iceland in hopes of building a test facility there.</p><p>"Our crazy idea would be to land a Starship in Iceland and build a Mars Analog around it," Wagoner said.</p><h2>'I want to try to have a good relationship with SpaceX'</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Courtesy of JB Wagoner</span></p><p class="caption">JB Wagoner stands before a Falcon 9 rocket booster outside of SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>As part of his trip to Texas, he wanted to somehow get his ideas in front of Musk in hopes of helping him with SpaceX's long-term goals. Now he feels his arrest may jeopardize his chances.</p><p>"I want to try to have a good relationship with SpaceX, I don't want to mess it up," Wagoner said, adding that the criminal charge now puts him in "kind of in a quandary."</p><p>Wagoner on Tuesday asked Musk in a <a href="https://twitter.com/HerobrinesArmy/status/1179112876478488576" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweet</a> to pardon him for his "photographic exuberance."</p><p>"I didn't mean any harm by it," Wagoner told Business Insider. "I have nothing but admiration and best wishes for Elon Musk and the work that he does with SpaceX to make us a multiplanetary species."</p><p>Wagoner claimed he is innocent and hopes the charges are dropped. He claimed that a DHS official who interviewed him described one of the photos Wagoner took, which shows the downed chain-link fencing, as an "ultimate defense." (Business Insider left a message with the DHS media relations team, but no one responded in time for publication.)</p><p>Lucio said if a property owner decides to no longer pursue charges, "we'll ask for a written signed statement and then give it to the district attorney."</p><p>SpaceX did not respond to multiple requests for comment and information. Business Insider sent emails to the company, placed phone calls to representatives, and left voice messages with employees over a span of several days.</p><p><em>Have a story or information to share? Send Dave Mosher an email at <a href="mailto:dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com">dmosher+tips@businessinsider.com</a> or consider more secure communication options <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dave-mosher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">listed here</a>.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-unveils-spacex-starship-plan-mars-2019-9">Watch Elon Musk unveil his latest plan for conquering Mars</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A SpaceX fan who visited Texas to see Elon Musk's Starship event spent the night in jail after taking photos of a rocket prototype built by the company

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>NASA-Waldie</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>As far as we know, no one has ever had sex in space. </p><p>NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have consistently and aggressively denied that any astronaut has had sex in space on the International Space Station (ISS).</p><p>So it seems that no one, yet, is part of the "250-mile-high club."</p><p>PornHub, the internet's largest pornography website, wants to change that.</p><p>PornHub made headlines last week when it <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pornhub-is-making-a-sex-tape-in-space-2015-6">announced its plans</a> to be the first company to shoot a sex tape in space. It even launched an <a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pornhub-space-program-sexploration#/story">Indiegogo campaign</a> to raise the $3.4 million it estimates the film will cost to produce.</p><p>The company wants to film its stars having sex during the few minutes that the spaceship will be in zero gravity as it reaches its maximum height over Earth. (No word yet on what spaceship they'll be using for the film yet). </p><p><strong>There's one glaring problem here: We know almost nothing about the <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> of sex in space and the potential risks and problems that could arise.</strong></p><p>There are some biologists, astronomers, and anthropologists who have spent time speculating about what sex in space will be like. We can't be 100% sure of anything since we have little research and zero data, but it's clear sex in space won't be anything like sex on Earth. </p><h3>The zero gravity problem</h3><p>It's not something most of us spend any time thinking about, but gravity is pretty critical for sex.</p><p><span>Getting it on in a zero g environment might sound kind of hot (PornHub certainly seems to think so), but m</span><span>ost experts who have spent time thinking through the logistics have a different opinion.</span></p><p><span>"One of the things that gravity helps us do is stay together, so sex in microgravity might actually be more difficult because you're going to have to make sure that you're always holding each other so you don't drift apart," <span>Paul Wolpe, a senior bioethicist at NASA, </span></span><a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/sex-in-space">told VICE</a><span>. "It might be a lot more challenging and a lot less fulfilling than most people think."</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Scientists float in zero gravity</p></div><p></p></div></div>Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, takes this idea even further.</p><p><span>"But there'd also be ways in which Newton's third law - of action and reaction - interfere with the normal methods of sex that you might use on Earth," Impey said during an </span><a href="with%20NPR's Fresh Air host Terry Gross">interview <span>with NPR's Fresh Air host </span><span>Terry Gross</span></a><span>. </span></p><p>Then we have to consider how zero gravity affects the actual human body, not just its motion. </p><p>The human body - blood vessels, muscles, everything - is designed to deal with the pull of gravity. Blood doesn't flow through the body very well in zero-g. <strong>That means men could have a difficult time getting and keeping an erection.</strong></p><p>Another natural turn off is that people sweat way more in space. It builds up in layers and clings to the body because there's no gravity to make it drip off. That could make intimacy a lot less pleasant, Impey points out.</p><p><span><span>If we work out all the logistics here, there are still more questions to answer. There's a </span><a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/32eg7p/there_will_be_sex_in_space_mars_science_and_the/">fantastic Reddit discussion</a><span> about the intricacies of sex in space, and R</span>eddit user <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/32eg7p/there_will_be_sex_in_space_mars_science_and_the/cqalk5g">myprocessor posed an interesting question</a>:</span></p><p>"I can't imagine going through pregnancy in zero gravity. I also wonder how this would effect the development."</p><p> The bottom line is that we have no idea. Some studies on mice suggest that radiation (in addition to lowering a male's sperm count) could create <a href="http://www.livescience.com/33047-space-sex-pregnancy.html">pregnancy complications and even birth defects</a>.</p><p>There have only been a handful of these kinds of studies though. Clearly we need a lot more research.</p><h3>Psychological complications</h3><p>When a small group of people are confined to a small space for months, as they would be on a journey to Mars or beyond, it's hard to keep the peace. If two of those people were having sex, there's no telling how it might affect the group dynamic. </p><p><span>"Now that brings other problems: not all relationships last," astronaut Ron Garan <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/sex-in-space">told VICE</a>. "Imagine a breakup on a three-year mission to Mars."</span></p><p><span>NASA has a strict policy that no couples can be on board the ISS at the same time. (Even though it <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2007/02/do_astronauts_have_sex.html">happened by mistake</a> one time). </span></p><h3>Sex on Mars</h3><p><span>Gravity on Mars is about 40% of Earth's, so sex on Mars will be less complicated than sex in zero g.  </span></p><p>Physically having sex may be easier but there are other complications with intimacy and procreation on an alien world. Impey has a great summary of the some of the biggest problems in his book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Future-Space-Chris-Impey/dp/0393239306">Beyond: Our Future in Space:</a>"<span style="background-color: #ffff00;"></span></p><p><span><span>We'd also need to have a huge number of colonizers to ensure there's a healthy amount of genetic variability. If Elon Musk gets his way then we'll have </span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-we-could-put-a-million-people-on-mars-within-a-century-2015-6">a million people on Mars</a>, which should do the trick. </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mars One</span></p><p class="caption">Artist's conception of what the Mars One colony would look like. </p></div><p></p></div></div></span>While we're still a long way away from seeing births on Mars, space travel and exploration is progressing, and eventually these are problems that we'll have to solve if we want to become a multi-planetary species.</p><p>So how do we move forward? NASA seems a little prudish about the subject - it's published very little information about sex in space and most of its communication effort on the topic has gone toward squashing all rumors that any astronauts have done it.</p><p>In some ways that makes sense - there are still tons of other, more pressing health issues we need to figure out about living in space. So sex research is not a priority for<span> any space agency right now. But it's a subject that needs a lot more attention and open conversation. </span></p><p><span><span>"I'd just assume [sex in space] is going to be an adventure, and people will be creative and they'll find new ways to enjoy themselves," Impey said.</span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cryotherapy-treatment-kryolife-lebron-james-cristiano-ronaldo-2015-5">We tried cryotherapy - the super-cold treatment LeBron James swears by </a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="8xNDkzdTrPhZVTXsVcbxX5djyJzBD3lz" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Sex in space is going to be way different than it is on Earth

<div style="width: 100%; overflow: hidden;">
<p><span style="color: #000000; text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em>This is the second of the six-part "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/inspired-to-strive" target="_blank">Inspired to Strive</a>" series, in which business leaders of middle-market companies share their stories of success. "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/inspired-to-strive" target="_blank">Inspired to Strive</a>" is sponsored by CIT.</em></span></p>
</div>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/inspired-to-strive"><span style="color: #000000; text-decoration: initial; font-size: 13px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><em>See more Inspired to Strive &gt;&gt;</em></span></a></strong></p><p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Alex Davies</p><p class="caption"><keyword id="6355315" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Elon-Musk">Elon Musk</keyword> with the <keyword id="107096" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tesla">Tesla</keyword> Model S.</p></div>Elon Musk, CEO of <keyword id="156689" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tesla-Motors">Tesla Motors</keyword>, he has turned a pipe dream — an all-electric car company — into a viable business, in a high-risk, high-cost industry.</p>
<p>Musk is also CEO of <keyword id="6360701" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SpaceX">SpaceX</keyword>, whose unmanned Dragon rocket <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-dragon-capsule-dock-sunday-2013-3">successfully docked with the International Space Station for the second time</a>, dropping off cargo per the company's $1.6 billion contract with NASA.</p>
<p><strong><em></em></strong>His intense ambition and self-confidence enable him to handle<em> </em>both jobs at the same time, despite the myriad challenges — like broken-down <keyword id="20632" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cars">cars</keyword>, economic collapses, and failed rockets — that come with changing the automotive and aerospace industries.<em></em></p>
<p>It's the combination of that ambition and business acumen that have made Musk what he is today. "For all his grand plans, he's a pretty pragmatic businessman who knows how to build a company," Matt Desch, CEO of satellite-communications provider Iridium <a href="http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/elon-musk-interview-1212-3">told Esquire last year</a><em>.<br /></em></p>
<p><strong>Starting With A Clear Vision</strong></p>
<p>Musk, who was raised in South Africa, then moved to Canada and ended up in the United States, has degrees in physics and business. That's hardly what would you'd expect of someone mastering automotive and space engineering. But that resume has not dictated Musk's goals, which are straightforward: Create a zero-emissions form of transport, and revolutionize inter-planetary travel. </p>
<p>In May 2011, <a href="http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/17/elon-musk-on-the-3-inventions-that-will-change-the-world/">Musk told CNN</a> the fully reusable orbital rocket is one of the three inventions that will one day change the world. He explained: "It’s the fundamental invention necessary for humanity to expand to the stars and to become multi-planetary."</p>
<p>Late in 2012, <a href="http://www.space.com/18596-mars-colony-spacex-elon-musk.html">he told Space.com</a> he wants SpaceX to help create a self-sustaining 80,000-person colony on Mars.</p>
<p>It's not about making a profit either, <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Elon-Musk-the-Rocket-Man-With-a-Sweet-Ride-179998091.html">he told Smithsonian magazine</a> in December: "For me it was never about money, but solving problems for the future of humanity."</p>
<p><strong>Tesla's Simple Approach</strong></p>
<p>There's a reason there are only a handful of automakers operating today: Designing and building cars costs a huge amount of money, and it's easy to make a dud. To succeed where so many have failed, Musk created a very simple master business plan, which he <a href="http://www.teslamotors.com/fr_CH/blog/secret-tesla-motors-master-plan-just-between-you-and-me">explained in an August 2006 blog post</a>:</p>
<ol>
<li>Build sports car</li>
<li>Use that money to build an affordable car</li>
<li>Use <em>that</em> money to build an even more affordable car</li>
<li>While doing above, also provide zero emission electric power generation options</li>
</ol>
<p><strong><div class="image-container float_left" style="width:301px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Tesla Motors</p><p class="caption">The Tesla Roadster.</p></div></strong>So far, Tesla is pretty much on track: The Roadster, an all-electric sports car, was produced from 2008 to early 2012. The two-seater could go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds and drive more than 200 miles on a single charge. It sold for about $89,000, more than the price of a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jaguars-newly-revealed-f-type-2012-9">brand new Jaguar F-Type sports car</a>.</p>
<p>It was followed by the Model S, a more practical ride with room for seven. In his master plan blog post, Musk predicted the Model S would cost about half the price of the Roadster. The new sedan is less expensive, but not especially affordable.</p>
<p>The cheapest version starts at $52,400 (after a $7,500 federal tax credit). The most capable version (with a big 85 kWh battery that offers a range of 300 miles) starts at $72,400<em>.</em> That is still a lot closer to a BMW than a Ford. But Musk is still determined to get there, <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/04/16/musk-tesla-is-a-success-on-some-levels-video/">he told Mashable</a> last year.<em> </em></p>
<p>Those prices open the Model S to accusations of being luxury car for the wealthy. Critics <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/boblutz/2012/07/13/tesla-beating-detroit-thats-just-nonsense/">include former GM executive Bob Lutz</a>, who called the Model S "a nice car for a social elite" in July 2012.</p>
<p>In response, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-one-reason-tesla-is-beating-gm-ford-and-toyota-2012-7">Adam Hartung at Spark Partners praised Musk's plan</a>, describing Tesla as a "disruptive innovator."</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The Roadster wasn’t for everyone, but it wasn’t designed to be. It was meant to demonstrate a really good car could be made without the traditional trade-offs people like Mr. Lutz  said were impossible to overcome.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Now Tesla is introducing a car that is much more aligned with what most people buy. </p>
<p>Perhaps most importantly, it is an excellent car. It was <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-model-s-motor-trend-car-of-year-2012-11">named "Car of the Year" for 2012 by Motor Trend Magazine</a>, marking the first time in the 63-year history of the prestigious award a vehicle with a non-combustion engine has been awarded the prize.</p>
<p>Accepting the award, Musk called it a "pivotal turn in history," and acknowledgment that Tesla had built not just a great electric car, but "the best car of any kind."</p>
<p>The Model S will<em></em> be followed by the Model X. When the all-electric SUV was revealed in February 2012, Tesla said production would begin by the end of 2013. That <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-delays-model-x-will-pay-back-loans-early-2013-3">has just been pushed back a year</a>, the company announced in its annual report on March 7.</p>
<p>That filing also noted the Model X will cost about the same as the Model S, so the SUV will not be the "even more affordable car" Musk predicted in his business plan.</p>
<p><strong>Finding the Right People<br /></strong></p>
<p>On top of his ability to read and learn quickly (<a href="http://www.success.com/articles/2096-success-achiever-of-the-year-elon-musk">Success magazine writes</a> he mastered rocket science by "reading books and asking questions"), he surrounds himself with smart, talented people, who have the expertise he is missing.</p>
<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:300px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">SpaceX</p><p class="caption">The SpaceX Falcon 9 at its launch.</p></div>He has long believed in talent over numbers, he <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=Onajosm9PWo">said back in 2007</a>: “Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer (two people who don't know something are no better than one), will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive.”</p>
<p>Tesla CFO Deepak Ahuja came from Ford, bringing with him knowledge of large-scale automotive operations.</p>
<p>VP of Sales and Ownership George Blankenship was a key strategist behind the success of Apple's stores. Now, his task is to do the same with Tesla stores (and be Musk's right-hand man at  press events).</p>
<p>Gwynne Shotwell, a veteran of research and development center Aerospace Corporation, was tapped to be president of SpaceX.</p>
<p>More recently, Musk said he has started to take personality as well as talent into account. At South by Southwest last week, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-elon-musk-hires-it-matters-whether-someone-has-a-good-heart-2013-3">he said his biggest mistake</a> was "weighing too much on someone's talent and not someone's personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart."</p>
<p><strong>A History Of Failures <br /></strong></p>
<p>Tesla and SpaceX are competing in extremely expensive industries dominated by enormous corporations and government entities, and their roads to success have not been easy.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.success.com/articles/2096-success-achiever-of-the-year-elon-musk"> According to Success magazine</a>, "the first three rockets built by SpaceX produced crash-and-burn videos."</p>
<p>But neither company threw in the towel.</p>
<p>In 2008, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-tesla-2013-2#">struggling Tesla nearly collapsed during the financial crisis</a>. When Tesla needed cash to fund the Model S, Musk chose to bankrupt himself — giving up the money he earned from his success with PayPal — rather than let it die. He <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/sorkin-elon-musk-of-paypal-and-tesla-fame-is-broke/">sunk his last $35 million into the company</a>, the New York Times reported.</p>
<p>In a February 23, 2010 court filing, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/teslas-elon-musk-i-ran-out-of-cash-2010-5-2">Musk admitted he was broke</a>: "About four months ago, I ran out of cash." The filing, part of his divorce case from his now ex-wife, Justine Musk, said he had been living off of personal loans from friends since October 2009.</p>
<p>It was an extremely rough time, <a href="http://www.esquire.com/features/americans-2012/elon-musk-interview-1212-3">Musk's brother Kimbal told Esquire</a>:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">This wasn't Elon facing adversity. This was, 'Holy shit.' Personal bankruptcy was a daily conversation. Tesla was on the limb to deliver cars that people already paid for. Bankruptcy would have been easier than what he did. He threw everything he had into keeping Tesla alive.</p>
<p>In 2009, the company landed a $465 million federal loan, which it used to get the car into production. With its <a href="http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/03/elon-musk-electric-cars-technology-tesla.html">successful IPO in June 2010</a>, Tesla became the first automaker to go public since 1956.</p>
<p>Musk has never had a problem creating demand for the Model S, and now Tesla has finally hit its goal of producing 400 cars a week, the number it needs to keep hitting to generate income.</p>
<p>And SpaceX this month completed another successful trip to the International Space Station.</p>
<p>The common thread in Musk's leadership that has brought both companies to these tentative levels of success is his willingness to take risks, his tenacity, and the fervent confidence that gets others on board with his seemingly crazy ideas.</p>
<p><strong>Success At A Cost?</strong></p>
<p>But there are downsides to the latter two qualities. Musk is combative, and reacts harshly to outside criticism. Simply put, it's hard to find an instance where he has publicly admitted being wrong, because he is so convinced he knows what's right.</p>
<p>In 2008, the popular television show "Top Gear" said the Roadster it tested ran out of power before achieving the promised range (and featured the stars pushing it).</p>
<p><div class="image-container float_left" style="width:302px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Alex Davies / Business Insider</p><p class="caption">The upcoming Tesla Model X. </p></div>Musk insisted it was misleading, and responded with a lawsuit. The legal battle dragged on for five years, and finally ended this month, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-loses-its-legal-challenge-over-top-gears-negative-roadster-review-2013-3">with a loss for Tesla</a>.</p>
<p>When John Broder at the New York Times wrote a review last month accusing the Model S of the same shortcoming, Musk called the review "fake" on Twitter, and <a href="http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive">lambasted Broder in a blog post</a>, writing "some believe the facts shouldn't get in the way of a salacious story."</p>
<p>Ultimately, the Times <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-public-editor-sullivan-critizes-tesla-review-2013-2">admitted the review showed problems</a> with precision and judgement, but Public Editor Margaret Sullivan also accused Musk of using the car's digitally recorded driving logs "in the most damaging (and sometimes quite misleading) ways possible."</p>
<p>Musk's protests of mistreatment may rally his supporters, but they earn him little love or respect otherwise. Peter Handal, CEO of professional training company Dale Carnegie, told Business Insider his attitude can be a turn-off:</p>
<p id="internal-source-marker_0.40232821885832437" style="margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It would</span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">have been more productive for Musk to simply cite the car’s performance log and refer to the article as “confusing” or “inaccurate.” Labeling a journalist’s report this way might not end well since it can damage relationships, cause hostility and tarnish reputations. And from a practical point of view, that's not an effective way to "win friends and influence people."</span></p>
<p>Yet even after <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-wants-to-bury-hatchet-with-nyt-2013-2">asking on Twitter to "bury the hatchet"</a> with the Times late in February, Musk kept ragging on the review <a href="http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31346_7-57572660-252/teslas-elon-musk-flames-times-review-in-geneva/">when asked about it at the Geneva Auto Show</a>, where he was talking about Tesla's upcoming debut in Europe, and showing off the Model S and the upcoming Model X.</p>
<p>But ultimately, Musk's personality may do him as much good as harm, Peter Handal says:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>Even though it might raise some eyebrows, Musk’s aggressive leadership approach is not necessarily a bad thing. In his industry, he is on the cutting edge of automotive innovation and technology, and he feels that this is the correct way to handle how to conduct business.</span></p>
<p>What really matters is the products he builds: No investor will care if Musk acts like a jerk, if Tesla delivers its cars on time and SpaceX keeps running successful journeys.</p>
<p>If both companies stay on track, it will be a testament to Musk's ability to convert seemingly utopian visions (with the help of a fortune made in the startup industry) into models for a new world.</p>

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