The Woman Behind SpaceX

Micah, am I right that your beat is the business of space? Yes. It is. It is indeed the business of space. That's our colleague, Micah Maidenberg. And is there a lot of business in space these days? Yes. There is. Well, it's a really great question. How to make money in space is there's there's a few ways to do it, and lots of ideas on how to find more ways to do it. And in the space business, there's one company that's undeniably the most important, Elon Musk's SpaceX. They're not just a supplier of a part or software or something like that, but they're building rockets like Falcon nine, Falcon Heavy, and Starship. They're building and deploying and operating satellites for, most notably, their Starlink satellite Internet fleet. And, you know, ultimately, the goal for years has been to mount some kind of, you know, human mission to to Mars. That's long been, you know, Elon Musk's dream and and why he started the company about twenty years ago. Most people do associate SpaceX primarily with Elon Musk. But, like, on a day to day basis, who is in charge? On a day to day basis, Gwynne Shotwell is in charge. We aren't human if we don't go seek out what there is to learn in space. And I think robotic exploration is great as precursor missions, but we need to get out to other planets and certainly out to other stars. Gwen Shotwell is the longtime president of SpaceX. She's been in that role since 2008. She's very tough, very charismatic. And in the space industry, you you know, sometimes people will just talk about Gwen. You know what I mean? She's known by, like, her first name, almost like Like Madonna. She has a certain kind of mystique about her that's built on, you know, what SpaceX has been able to accomplish over the years. But generally, she's sort of more behind the scenes. This year, Gwynne Shotwell is preparing to lead SpaceX through maybe its biggest year yet. The company is at this really kind of unprecedented moment where they're actively considering going public, raising potentially billions of dollars in initial public offering. And, you know, Gwen, as the longtime number two at SpaceX, is, you know, it suddenly kind of, like, emerging into the spotlight a little bit more in the past. So this is kind of a big moment for her? It it's a very big moment for her and for the company. Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Thursday, January 22. Coming up on the show, the woman behind the success of SpaceX. AI is incredible. It can teach you how to fry an egg and even write a poem, pirate style. Gar. But it knows nothing about your work. Slackbot is different. It doesn't just know the facts. It knows your schedule. It can turn a brainstorm into a brief, and …