Elon Musk's friends 'staged an intervention' when he said he wanted to start his own rocket company and made him watch videos of rockets exploding

• Elon Musk's friends held an intervention to stop him starting a rocket company, according to a new book.
• His college friend made him watch videos of rockets blowing up and warned him he'd lose his money.
• Musk ultimately created SpaceX, with the goal of colonizing Mars.

Elon Musk's friends staged an intervention when he told them he wanted to start his own rocket company in the early 2000s, according to a new biography of the billionaire.

"When Musk decided he wanted to start his own rocket company, his friends did what true friends do in such a situation: they staged an intervention," journalist Walter Isaacson wrote in the book, titled "Elon Musk."