Photo: BBC
Tesla and SpaceX head Elon Musk is hardly the character today that he was a decade ago when just starting out with the two companies.
A new set of interviews compiled by BBC shows the earlier landscape, in which the entrepreneur was weathering a financial crisis and pushing progress forward in two emerging industries: electric vehicles (EVs) and privatized space exploration.
BBC shared episode two of what it calls The Elon Musk Show, a series including interviews with Musk, his family members and close friends and other business associates, released on Wednesday evening.
The series is focused on Musk’s efforts to revolutionize the auto industry at Tesla and his efforts in eventually reaching Mars through SpaceX.
Among the many archival interviews with Musk himself and those around him is a discussion with former SpaceX Vice President Hans Koenigsmann, who discussed how risky rockets are as a product.
The series is set to include three episodes, with the third coming out on October 26, 2022. You can watch the first episode here.
The documentary’s executive producer, Mark Raphael, told the BBC in an interview, “My opinion did change about Elon. I didn’t know much about him when I started, and I suppose I had the usual clichéd opinion of him. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? Is he a bit of a Bond villain, an Iron Man? I learned in the making of the project that he’s a proper genius. He can turn his mind to rocket science and to military cars. He’s a serious engineer, and I think he’s a bit different to the clichéd version I had in mind. Not only is he an entrepreneur or a visionary, he’s also incredibly bright.”
At Tesla’s Q3 earnings call this week, Musk said that Tesla could someday be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined in the years to come.
Episode Two’s synopsis is as follows:
By 2009 Elon Musk is working hard to revolutionise the electric car market, and to achieve his dream of taking mankind to Mars.
But first he must weather a global financial crisis if he is going to change the world and realise his interplanetary mission. As SpaceX is awarded a NASA contract and starts to enjoy success, Tesla, is haemorrhaging money. Where others see an impossible challenge, Elon sees opportunity – and many sleepless nights.
You can watch episode two of BBC’s The Elon Musk Show on YouTube below:
