What SpaceX Means For Elon Musk's Mars Dreams

In less than two decades, SpaceX went from Elon Musk's dream of a greenhouse experiment on Mars to conducting the majority of U.S. rocket launches.

The early years of SpaceX reveal a company that teetered on the edge of dying out, as Musk has said. After three unsuccessful attempts to reach orbit, his team scrounged together enough parts for a fourth rocket, and SpaceX made history with its Falcon 1 rocket.

While Musk provided the vision, his company was not an overnight success. Key people, such as employees like now President and COO Gwynne Shotwell and investors like the members of the Founders Fund, helped forge SpaceX into the business it is today. SpaceX has won billions of dollars in NASA and Air Force launch contracts. It also carries payloads for private companies.

Now SpaceX is valued at over $30 billion and has more than 6,000 employees around the country. The company is launching rapidly, with a backlog of orders for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. SpaceX is facing its greatest challenge yet in 2019: Launching astronauts for NASA. If Musk's long-term goal of sending humans to Mars is going to be realized, SpaceX must be able to regularly and safely launch astronauts into orbit.

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What SpaceX Means For Elon Musk's Mars Dreams

[CNBC]

When do you think humans will walk on Mars? Would you ride a SpaceX rocket to Mars?

[mkcs]

The reason SpaceX has come so far so fast, is that they hire the right people for the job, regardless of their skin color or gender.

[matthewboyle]

Oh my lord. Are they actually complaining about diversity in this company. You hire based on skill, thats it

[joebloe]

Hiring should always be based on a person's qualifications and never on their gender or race!!

[jimbabwe]

They're hiring talent, not diversity. That's how they've innovated so much. They hire the best talent, whether that's diverse or not.

[rajeshmishra]

It was successful because it hired engineers not politicians from each demography and colour..

[brushfuse]

Having worked for a tech company that started freaking out about their gender and diversity numbers, I have to say I prefer the approach that focuses on potential employers capabilities and skills, and not on what they have between their legs.

[tarzan]

You know you're in 2019 when a white lady randomly brings up diversity for absolutely no reason at all 13:45

[DanMcH]

Great video until we got this affirmative action and diversity nonsense.

[thathawaiianguy]

Good video until the diversity. Hire the best regardless of race and gender. Period.

[tnc]

Kind of confused on the whole Diversity part. It shouldn’t matter because at the end of the day, he is doing this for HUMANKIND.

[chuntley]

What does demographics and diversity have to do with rockets and space? I love how now that spacex is successful diversity somehow matters now. All successful startups, start, not being very diverse because they cannot afford not to hire the best. What a joke

[abhijithchandran]

In my company I don’t care if my employees are all women all gays or all lesbians or all MEN. What I care is how good they are for the job. Period

[world-traveler]

Hire the best. Not to pad your "diversity" statistics.

[polishherowitoldpilecki]

Does diversity really improve the input of a team??? I thought merit did that.

[stoozey]

Was enjoying this until they made it about race and diversity.

[amarok]

Do they have to drag identity politics into every damn thing?

[ges]

I turned off the video when they started bashing SpaceX for allegedly not being diversified. Just more of the same nit picking journalism that thinks they aren't being complete if they don't find flaws.

[mdaamin]

I would choose efficiency over diversity any day of the week.

[solowstang]

Doesn’t matter how many women he hires it’s his company 😂😭