Inside of the

This week a 230ft rocket, lifting off with the power of 18 Boeing 747s, launched on a mission towards Mars carrying a Tesla sports car, “driven” by a dummy called Starman.

Oh, and it all happened to the theme tune of David Bowie’s Space Oddity blaring out of a pre-programmed stereo.

The man behind the most theatrical space mission ever staged is Elon Musk, the world’s 53rd richest person with an estimated fortune of £14.7billion.

And the 46-year-old is nothing if not an innovator. First, there was a web software firm he launched at 24, which he sold three years later for £220million. Then Paypal, sold to ebay for £1billion.

There is also his electric car firm Tesla and Solarcity, the US’S second biggest provider of solar power systems.

Now there’s Spacex and his space race mission to build a reusable rocket, named BFR (“Big F***ing Rocket”), which will ferry passengers to Mars and help colonise the red planet – where he admits he wants to “die one day”.

This is the weird and wonderful world of the rocket man...

Musk does invest in property but he doesn’t branch out much. All five of his mansions, worth £50million, are in Bel-air, LA. He bought the first in 2013 as a bachelor for £12million. The 20,248-square-foot mansion has a twostory library, a home theatre, gym, and 1,000-bottle wine cellar.

The same year, he bought a neighbouring home for nearly £5million and has now turned into a private school for his children. His fifth purchase was a £17million estate still being built.

Yet Musk is a nomadic character. His friend, Google founder Larry Page, said: “He’s kind of homeless, which is sort of funny. He’ll email and say, ‘I don’t know where to stay tonight. Can I come over?’.”

The tycoon seems to have a weakness for cars. As well as owning Tesla, he is said to have a Jaguar Series 1 1967 E-type roadster and a Model T Ford – the first mass-produced car.

But the crowning glory in his collection is his £711,000 Lotus Esprit submarine car driven by Roger Moore in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.

He said: “It was amazing as a kid to watch James Bond drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier and have it transform into a submarine. I was disappointed to learn it can’t actually transform. I’m going to upgrade it with a Tesla powertrain and try to make it transform for real.”

And Musk’s love for Bond is reciprocated. There are rumours the next 007 film could feature a giant space rocket

CARS PROPERTY