Chapter 34: Falcon 9 Liftoff: Cape Canaveral, 2010

In May 2002, Elon and Justine's infant son Nevada dies from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome while the family is at a hotel during a cousin's wedding. Devastated and unable to process his grief verbally, Elon withdraws emotionally while Justine grieves openly. When Elon's father Errol arrives from South Africa shortly after Nevada's death, Elon impulsively invites him to stay in Los Angeles and buys him a house and car, though this arrangement quickly deteriorates due to Errol's inappropriate behavior toward his stepdaughter.

Nevada, Elon and Justine's firstborn son, dies from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at ten weeks old while the family is staying at a hotel in Laguna Beach during a cousin's wedding. The baby stops breathing in his crib and, by the time paramedics resuscitate him, he has suffered catastrophic oxygen deprivation and is declared brain-dead. After three days on life support, the parents decide to remove the breathing machine. Elon feels his son's last heartbeat while Justine holds Nevada as he dies. Elon is devastated and cannot immediately return home; Kimbal arranges for the family to stay at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel's presidential suite. Elon asks for Nevada's belongings to be removed and takes three weeks before returning home. When his friend Navaid Farooq comes to support him, Elon refuses to discuss the tragedy, instead watching movies and playing video games in silence. Justine openly expresses her grief, but Elon rebuffs her emotional displays, accusing her of being manipulative. During this dark period, Elon's father Errol arrives from South Africa with his new wife and five children to meet his grandson, but the airline breaks the news of Nevada's death before he lands. Elon, unable to speak the words himself, arranges for the airline to inform Errol. Despite Kimbal's warnings that Errol is a harmful influence, the grieving Elon impulsively offers to buy his father a house in Malibu, a Land Rover, and school arrangements for the children. However, Elon becomes concerned about Errol's inappropriate attention toward his fifteen-year-old stepdaughter Jana and attempts to solve the problem by buying Errol a yacht to live on forty-five minutes away. This backfires when Errol's wife begins deferring to Elon as the provider rather than her husband. Eventually, Elon tells Errol the arrangement is not working and asks him to return to South Africa, which Errol does, followed months later by his family.