Few_Carpenter_9185 t1_iuax895 wrote on October 29, 2022 at 10:44 PM

Reply to comment by Mntfrd_Graverobber in Amazon may have to turn to SpaceX for help launching its Starlink rival service by Soupjoe5

It's pretty much this.

First an observation of making Acronyms of both companies. "BO" makes one think of "Body Odor". "SX" has connotations of "Sex" maybe?

Anyway, it seems like Musk took a chance on paying a LOT of attention to whatever Legacy Aerospace and NASA do not do well, and pivot 180° from that wherever possible when giving his input to core SpaceX philosophy, organization, and mission.

A lot has to do with Gwynne Shotwell a truly remarkable human being, with a ton of both technical aerospace engineering and business acumen. I'm guessing Musk and whoever did the search for her did a deep dive to find someone committed to "better, faster, cheaper, and different" beyond just superficial platitudes.

I've worked in Aerospace QA from a software ststems/tracking side. And in Manufacturing Execution. So I admittedly have a very vague overhead view of what culture and processes are in the field, but I get the sense, a smell almost... that things are radically different at SpaceX. Risk, process, everything.

I can't say for sure, but Bezos seems to have gotten more into emulating Legacy Aerospace to a degree. And the choice of Bob Smith from ULA and Honeywell might back that up.

Only a subjective impression, but any agility Blue Origin displays seems in response to SpaceX if anything.

Mntfrd_Graverobber t1_iuaz2cq wrote on October 29, 2022 at 10:58 PM

The name straight up sounds like "space sex". Because Elon.

Appreciate the insight. And Gwynne is definitely a treasure. I've often said I bet Elon wishes he had someone like that for Tesla. She is certainly part of what makes SpaceX exceptional. And they did hire her because she had a similar idea of "better, faster, cheaper, and different". SpaceX is the kind of company she dreamed she could work for when traditional aerospace was all there was, despite the problems or shortcomings of traditional aerospace being known.