Elon Musk is in charge of several companies, but SpaceX stands out as particularly exciting due to its ambitious goal of colonizing Mars using reusable rockets. Although Twitter, Tesla, and PayPal were already established before Musk’s involvement, SpaceX was his brainchild.
After pocketing $175 million from eBay’s acquisition of PayPal in 2002, Musk invested $100 million into his newly founded space exploration company. By 2006, SpaceX had 160 employees and received $278 million in funding from NASA as it worked on launching the Falcon 1 rocket. Despite facing potential collapse after the initial failure of its first three launches, NASA stepped in and saved SpaceX by awarding it a $1.6 billion contract in late 2008.
Fast forward 15 years, and SpaceX boasts around 12,000 employees, a reported valuation of approximately $137 billion according to CNBC, and the successful launch of 240 Falcon rockets. This success has been attributed to Musk’s demanding and intense leadership style. Walter Isaacson, author of Musk’s upcoming biography, described witnessing Musk enter “demon mode” with moments of intense rage, promoting productivity but lacking empathy.
Jim Cantrell, involved in setting up SpaceX, shared his experience with Musk, mentioning that working with him felt like dealing with two different personalities: the good Elon and the bad Elon, leaving colleagues unsure of what to expect. Former SpaceX staff described working long hours, with some referring to themselves as their “own slave driver.”
Last summer, nine employees were fired for urging the company to denounce Musk’s frequent and distracting tweets. Additionally, SpaceX faced an $18,475 fine for workplace safety violations after an engineer suffered a skull fracture, resulting in months of coma. Despite setbacks, SpaceX’s Starship, the world’s tallest and most powerful rocket, had its maiden launch in April, albeit ending in an explosion three minutes into the flight.
The next launch attempt is anticipated before the year’s end, aligning with plans to fly NASA astronauts to the Moon in 2025.
Author: shadjavist
Humble gentleman who never believes in impossibility
