ELON Musk had an emotional reunion with his dad Errol as they met for the first time in seven years, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.
The father and son have had an often tense relationship over the years but put their differences aside to meet in Boca Chica, Texas.
The pair linked up after the historic first successful launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket into space at the company's Starbase facility last Saturday.
The last time they had been together was in 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa, when Elon, 52, and his brother Kimbal, 51, celebrated their dad’s 70th birthday with him.
Errol received the surprise invite to the Starship launch from his SpaceX CEO son while spending time with two of his daughters in Austin.
He had traveled to Tampa, Florida from his native South Africa earlier this month for a charity auction of a portrait he painted of Elon.
Later, he moved on to Texas to see daughters Alexandra and Rose and granddaughter Cora Amelia alongside his ex-wife Heide Musk.
Errol declined to comment, but Heide told The U.S. Sun: “The family cried. It was pretty emotional stuff.
“Errol was very happy to see Elon, and Elon appeared very happy to see his father.
“They immediately sat down at Elon's table next to one another and started talking as though no time had passed.
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“They spoke for a long time.
“It was very touching for me and our daughters to see this. We were speechless.”
Errol and his family watched the Starship launch from a VIP platform with about 100 U.S. and international guests.
A family pic shows Errol posing in front of the Starship rocket alongside Heide, his daughters Alexandra and Rose, Alexandra’s husband Guy Stueart IV, and their young daughter Cora Amelia.
The launch was the first time the Starship spacecraft managed to go into space.
Its first test launch in April did see it become the most powerful rocket ever flown, but it blew up four minutes into the launch without reaching space.
On Saturday, its self-destruct function switched on for an as of yet unknown reason and it exploded above the Gulf of Mexico eight minutes after launch.
It was followed by a champagne breakfast at a nearby yacht club.
That night, Errol was reunited with his eldest son for the first time in nearly a decade at a dinner to celebrate the launch.
Errol later told Heide that he’d had a “pleasant evening with Elon” where the conversation was “typically Musk.”
She revealed: “Errol told me they spoke about mRNA research, the coarseness of orthopedic surgery, how to design a septic free operating theater, and the danger of statins.”
Heide added that Errol told her he felt “very glad to be able to check on his son personally” and that Elon was looking “very good and strong.”
The get together comes after Errol told The U.S. Sun that he was left wounded by his portrayal in an authorized biography of his son by bestselling author Walter Isaacson.
The retired electromechanical engineer told The U.S. Sun upon its release in September that Isaacson had unfairly cast him as the bad guy in the life of the world’s richest man.
He also told The U.S. Sun earlier this week that he's concerned about an upcoming movie adaptation of the book by Hollywood director Darren Aronofsky.
The U.S. Sun revealed last year that Errol has two young kids with Heide’s daughter from a previous marriage, Jana Bezuidenhout.
Heide said Saturday’s reunion brought back memories of when she first met Elon at Queens University in Canada in February 1991.
She later visited Elon with Errol when he was studying at Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania.
Heide also witnessed the father and son duo up close when Elon stayed with them twice in South Africa during university breaks.
She said: “I would say Errol's relationship with Elon, as a young man then, was very good indeed.
“So Mr. Isaacson saying Elon's relationship with Errol was Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader is nonsense.
“I would add that Errol always put Elon and Kimbal first in everything.
“Their needs always came first, which was a bit hard for me.
“I had never experienced anything like that before. Elon always sat in front.
“The jokes never stopped. Elon and Errol have the same sense of humor.
“They were always talking about technical things I couldn't understand.”
Earlier this month, Errol spoke as the guest of honor at a convention for the USA4RSA non-profit, which raises money in the U.S. for mental health and education charities in South Africa.
He donated his portrait of Elon to raise funds for intellectually challenged children.
Over 150 prints were auctioned for upwards of $1,900.
The original will be displayed in various major galleries during a U.S. tour, including New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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