Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger
(New York: William Morrow, 2021), 288
Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire on 2026-06-12-Fri when SpaceX went public. Remember what he went through to get there:
He dealt with unrelentingly negative headlines in the summer and fall of that year, with the third failure of the Falcon 1, the creation of web sites like "Tesla Death Watch," and his ex-wife, Justine, dragging her former husband publicly in the press. His new girlfriend, an English actress named Talulah Riley, said Musk looked like "death itself" and described him waking from nightmares, screaming and in physical pain. She worried he would break under the stress, or perhaps have a heart attack and die.
Even as SpaceX achieved success, both of Musk's major companies spiraled toward bankruptcy. That fall he had about $30 million cash left. Friends urged Musk to save SpaceX or Tesla, warning that he could not support both. He agonized over the decision. "It was like having two children," Musk said. "I could not bring myself to let one of the companies die." In Musk's worldview, he could not let either venture go. Tesla was needed to save Earth from climate change, helping to break humans from their fossil fuel addiction. And SpaceX would offer a backup plan by making humanity a multiplanetary species. He split his money between the two companies. (216-217)
Topic: SpaceX
Created: 2026-05-26-Tue
Updated: 2026-06-13-Sat