Watch SpaceX's Elon Musk show off his dance moves at Tesla Shanghai (video)

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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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace