While Musk takes a lot of credit for his vision, in Shotwell he found the perfect executive to run SpaceX like a finely oiled machine. She is one of the most admired and respected executives in our industry, and an inspiration for young women around the world.
We have 26-30 flights in 2018, but around half of those will be flight proven.
Everybody should learn from failure, and we have done that, although, obviously, we would prefer not to have failures. We have become a lot more cognizant of the impact of any small change that we make — we have always been mindful of the medium and big changes — and ensure all are thoroughly vetted. We have the recipe right now. We launched 18 times last year. We landed every rocket we set out to. But even though we have the recipe for launch and landing, and for refurbishing and relaunching, I don’t want to say we will never change again.
Does this make Elon Planetary executive of the year?
Quote from: speedevil on 02/16/2018 08:34 pmDoes this make Elon Planetary executive of the year?Not sure she’s orbiting around him… more like she’s a stable body managing his erratic orbit
Quote from: dcporter on 02/18/2018 02:40 amQuote from: speedevil on 02/16/2018 08:34 pmDoes this make Elon Planetary executive of the year?Not sure she’s orbiting around him… more like she’s a stable body managing his erratic orbitThere's a point at which anyone's skill set drops off to the potential detriment of a business. Successful businesses are started when a complementary set of skill sets are brought together and allowed to each own/run their piece of the action. Musk and Shotwell have achieved such a partnering. (Add in Tom Mueller and several others...) Difficult to replace either and have same results.
Quote from: AncientU on 02/18/2018 11:36 amQuote from: dcporter on 02/18/2018 02:40 amQuote from: speedevil on 02/16/2018 08:34 pmDoes this make Elon Planetary executive of the year?Not sure she’s orbiting around him… more like she’s a stable body managing his erratic orbitThere's a point at which anyone's skill set drops off to the potential detriment of a business. Successful businesses are started when a complementary set of skill sets are brought together and allowed to each own/run their piece of the action. Musk and Shotwell have achieved such a partnering. (Add in Tom Mueller and several others...) Difficult to replace either and have same results.This of course raises the question of what happens when one or both of them (or Tom) is no longer with SpaceX, will the company continue on the same course?
This of course raises the question of what happens when one or both of them (or Tom) is no longer with SpaceX, will the company continue on the same course?
Seriously though, my hunch is that Tom and Elon are important for SpaceX’s *future plans*, which would be imperiled if either of them left, while Gwynne is important for continuing its *current success*, which is necessary for funding the future plans.
Tom is awesome, but once raptor is done he’s no longer essential for BFR.
Tom is awesome, but once raptor is done he’s no longer essential for BFR. I do, however, expect SpaceX to find more work for Tom, like working on a variable mix hydrolox engine or even a nuclear thermal rocket engine. But in the meantime they’ll probably want to keep pushing the chamber pressure of Raptor higher and higher.Still, I think Gwynne and Elon are more fundamentally important for the future of SpaceX.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 02/18/2018 04:26 pmTom is awesome, but once raptor is done he’s no longer essential for BFR. New tasks: A primitive, bulletproof engine for a fleet of MArshoppers.An engine optimized for Jupiter/Saturn/The Belt/The Cloud. (H2 after all:)Far out engine for going, well, really far out.If Tom decides to stay in the engine business, create awesome stuff, I do not think he can go anywhere else. (Of course, if China decides to really conquer the Solar System....)
Quote from: Robotbeat on 02/18/2018 04:26 pmTom is awesome, but once raptor is done he’s no longer essential for BFR. I do, however, expect SpaceX to find more work for Tom, like working on a variable mix hydrolox engine or even a nuclear thermal rocket engine. But in the meantime they’ll probably want to keep pushing the chamber pressure of Raptor higher and higher.Still, I think Gwynne and Elon are more fundamentally important for the future of SpaceX.100 year starship
Congratulations @GwynneShotwell on winning the 30th Satellite Executive of the year award at #SATshow. You and your “rockstar” team are an inspiration to the whole space industry.🍾 👏🚀🛰