Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently met his father, Errol, for the first time in seven years. The father-son reunion occurred shortly after the launch of SpaceX's Starship rocket last Saturday. Errol was invited by his son to watch the launch. The reunion took place at SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. Errol Musk watched the launch with his ex-wife Hyde and granddaughter Cora.
The father and son have had a tense relationship over the past few years, but this time they decided to put their differences aside.
Errol Musk's ex-wife, Hyde Musk, described the reunion in an interview: "The whole family cried. It was so emotional. Errol was so happy to see Elon, and Elon seemed so happy to see his father. They immediately sat down at Elon's table and started talking like no time had passed."
Hyde called it an "emotional moment" and said the father and son talked to each other for a long time. Errol later told Hyde that he "had a great night with Elon" and the conversation was "typical Musk." Hyde revealed, "Erroll told me they talked about mRNA research, the roughness of orthopedic surgery, how to design an operating room without sepsis, and the dangers of statins."
According to reports, Errol and his family watched the launch of the Starship spacecraft from a VIP platform with approximately 100 U.S. and international guests.
Before the launch, Errol was spending time with his two daughters in Austin, Texas, when he unexpectedly received an invitation from his son Elon Musk.
The last time father and son met was in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2016, when Elon Musk celebrated his father's 70th birthday with his brother Kimbal.
But in 2017, Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal were "terrified and angry" when Errol Musk gave birth to his first child with his stepdaughter Jana Bezuidenhout.
According to Musk's biographer Walter Isaacson, Musk began giving his father a monthly stipend of $2,000 to $5,000 in 2010, but suspended the funding when he learned that his father had a child with his former stepdaughter. Kimbal Musk has vowed never to speak to his father again.