Tom Mueller, an aerospace engineer and SpaceX’s first employee, shared insights into his journey with the company, alongside its founder, Elon Musk. Mueller met Musk through a mutual interest in model rockets and joined SpaceX in 2002. He described the decision as one of his best choices, highlighting Musk’s skill in attracting and energizing talent.
As SpaceX prepares for its historic initial public offering, Mueller reflected on the company’s impact on space exploration. He expressed confidence in SpaceX’s transformative role, stating, “We believed it and we did it. So it was really cool.” He also noted the IPO could benefit all employees involved, himself included, as they hold equity in the company.
Mueller praised Musk’s entrepreneurial abilities, highlighting the potential of the IPO to make Musk the world’s first trillionaire. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk’s net worth is nearly $700 billion. Mueller stated, “It worked,” referencing Musk’s ambition to create a low-cost way to access space, epitomized by the successful Falcon 9 rocket.
Though Mueller has moved on to establish Impulse Space, a startup focused on providing services like delivering payloads in space, he remains a strong advocate for space exploration. He cited benefits like GPS advancements and improved weather forecasts as reasons why space is crucial. “Space is super important — more than people realize,” he said, alluding to future developments like orbital data centers and utilizing resources from the moon and asteroids.
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