CHAPTER 15 GENIUS BOY

Maye Musk remembers that when her other two children would gaze at the moon, guessing it was millions of miles away, Elon was quick to step in with the precise distance. His little sister called him “Genius Boy.”

That Genius Boy of long ago now has something in common with the comic book hero he read about in the adventures of Iron Man. Like Tony Stark, Elon has become known as a billionaire genius. And when disaster strikes or when lives are at stake or when people are facing serious problems that police and government can’t solve, people ask Elon for help.

In Thailand, twelve boys ventured off to explore the country’s longest cave with their soccer coach after practice, but torrential rain poured in behind them, flooding the cave and blocking their escape. They scrambled deeper into the cave to a dry ledge, but they were trapped, and no one knew exactly where.

Hours stretched to days, and the world watched exhausted cave divers, pained parents, and rescuers hold on to fleeting hope. And then people used Twitter to ask Elon directly for help. Couldn’t he figure out a way to rescue these boys? That resulted in engineers from SpaceX, Tesla, and the Boring Company stopping their work and traveling to Asia to offer their expertise. They brought along a mini submarine made of rocket parts to carry the boys out of the cave. Ultimately, divers guided all twelve boys and their coach out without the minisub. But Elon left it in Thailand to use in future rescue missions.

Elon’s minisub created a public relations crisis. One of the cavers who assisted with the rescue spoke with CNN and ridiculed the child-sized submarine, dismissing it as a publicity stunt and using crass innuendo to suggest what Elon could do with the submarine. The video clip went viral, and Elon responded angrily, calling the man a “pedo,” short for pedophile. The caver has since filed a lawsuit, and as of this writing, the issue is far from settled.

As Elon was returning to the United States, another request came in, this one from Flint, Michigan. Could Elon help solve the years-long public water crisis that had poisoned thousands of children with lead? Elon promised to pay for water filters for every house affected and set up an e-mail to handle the requests. And in the same way Puerto Rico’s governor reached out after Hurricane Maria, Flint’s mayor reached out to Elon to discuss the city’s specific needs. Elon and his foundation have since donated $480,000 to help Flint’s schools get safe water.

MENDED FENCES? In October 2018, Justine Musk took to Twitter to thank Elon. A documentary was debuting about Congolese women, the violence they suffered, and their empowering path forward. Justine thanked Elon for his role and support in making sure the film was made. In return, Elon publicly thanked her for letting him know about it.

Just like Stark, Elon Musk is not your cookie-cutter superhero. He wasn’t born with supernatural powers. He is flawed, gritty, intense. But he’s also the person people turn to with their impossible dreams.

At yet another big press event, while Elon updated the crowd on the Big Falcon Rocket (aka Starship) and gushed about what the engineering team accomplished in building its engine, another billionaire stood offstage. His name was Yusaku Maezawa, but he likes to be called MZ.

*Elon Musk, left, and Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by Chris Carlson/AP Photo.)*

MZ approached Elon years ago with his greatest wish: to see the moon. Not just through a telescope. He’d already spent countless hours as a child, an adolescent, and a grown-up looking at the night sky, wondering about the moon, and letting the moonlight fire his imagination. He wanted to go to the moon in person. And he had an idea that going to the moon could lead to worldwide peace. This wasn’t just a daydream, even though MZ didn’t own a space company or have his own arsenal of moon-ready rockets. What he did have was the money to pay the enormous (and undisclosed) fare to make his lunar trip a reality.

And that led to this big moment at SpaceX: the announcement that MZ will become the first tourist to launch into space and fly around the moon. And not only that, he will take a group of artists with him. What might they create? They could inspire us, not as individuals from different countries, but as earthlings, united by the planet we share. These were MZ’s questions. Choked up with emotion, he laid out his deepest desire, a desire shared and respected by the one man who could help him achieve it: Elon.

*Proposed flight plan for the trip. (© SpaceX.)*

Elon, too, was emotional when talking about this trip around the moon, because that dream is within reach.

“That someone is willing to do this,” Elon said, squirming in his seat as he tried to control his feelings. “To take their money and help fund this new project that’s risky, might not succeed, it’s dangerous. He’s like donating seats. These are great things. I tell you it’s done a lot to restore my faith in humanity.”¹⁸⁵

There are still years of technological problems to solve before this mission launches. And Elon doesn’t mince words about how dangerous it is; sending civilians into deep space aboard new technology could result in disaster. But fear is not going to paralyze Elon, whether solving this problem or the many others that he will take on.

Elon has described the daily deluge of thoughts as an ever-present explosion of ideas. It’s impossible to predict what he’ll tackle next. But his drive is unmistakable, as is his willingness to confront some of the biggest problems that exist on Earth and beyond.

Failure might be an option, but giving up is not.

ELON MUSK

NET WORTH: More than $23 billion

TITLES: Tesla (CEO), SpaceX (CEO), The Boring Company (CEO), Neurallink (CEO), Open AI (co-founder)

Got an interview with Elon? Better know the answer to this question. Rumor is he wants to know what was the biggest problem you faced, and how you solved it!

GARAGE: What’s in Elon’s garage? In addition to driving Teslas, Elon also owns a Jaguar Series 1 1967 E-Type Roadster and a Ford Model T given to him by a friend.