SpaceX's first employee remains on mission: "Space is super important"
CBS News • • business
Key Points:
- Tom Mueller, SpaceX's first employee and aerospace engineer, credited Elon Musk with inspiring him to join the company and praised Musk's talent for energizing and attracting skilled individuals.
- Mueller expressed confidence in SpaceX's impact on space exploration, highlighting the success of the Falcon 9 rocket and the company's mission to reduce space access costs.
- As SpaceX prepares for its historic initial public offering, Mueller and other employees with equity expect significant financial gains, with Musk potentially becoming the world's first trillionaire.
- Mueller, who later founded the space startup Impulse Space, emphasized the importance of space exploration for Earth-based benefits like GPS and weather forecasting, and sees future growth in space activities such as orbital data centers and resource utilization.
- The IPO marks a major milestone for SpaceX, validating its achievements and setting the stage for expanded innovation and commercial space endeavors.