When SpaceX's billionaire CEO Elon Musk isn't running his own private space program, he's leading Tesla's electric car revolution. But doesn't mean he doesn't make time to cut loose. That was the case Tuesday (Jan. 7) when Musk showed off some dance moves at a Tesla handover event.
In front of a jumping crowd at Tesla Shanghai Factory in China, Musk (who is also Tesla's CEO) playfully opened his jacket, held the lapels and bobbed as the crowd cheered, as captured in a video by state media CCTV (and which Space.com has put to music).
"At Tesla Giga Shanghai NSFW!!" Musk wrote of his performance on Twitter.
Still dancing, Musk shrugged the jacket over his shoulders and tossed it to the left, showing off a black T-shirt and white long sleeves underneath. He tried a few different moves in front of the crowd, dancing back and forth and sideways on stage before stopping the routine a few seconds later.
While it was the dance moves that got most of the attention on social media, Musk had a more serious purpose at the event – to highlight the first Tesla gigafactory (or electric vehicle assembly plant) outside of the United States.
"It will be our most advanced gigafactory as well," Musk said in a recent video. "We're going to make it extremely environmentally sustainable, for this to be a showpiece to the world."
With Musk also very active in space, we're just disappointed he didn't do the moonwalk.
This year, SpaceX is expected to launch its first Dragon commercial crew spacecraft with humans on board, after years of development and delays. The company is also ramping up missions with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, including launches of its Starlink broadband satellite series every few weeks.
SpaceX is also developing a massive new rocket called Starship for eventual deep-space missions for big payloads and, eventually, astronauts. The company is expected to complete a new prototype of the reusable spacecraft for flight tests this year.
At times, Musk's two companies have converged in a bit of high-tech cross-promotion.
In February 2018, SpaceX launched a cherry red Tesla Roadster into deep space (in fact, it was Musk's personal car) as the payload for the first Falcon Heavy test flight. A mannequin called "Starman" in a SpaceX spacesuit was at the wheel.
In November 2019, Musk unveiled Tesla's new Cybertruck, an electric truck that looks like something straight out science fiction. During that reveal, Musk announced that the Cybertruck is made out of the same type of stainless steel as SpaceX's Starship.
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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