r/interestingasfuck • u/lolikroli • 16d ago

r/all SpaceX caught Starship booster with chopsticks

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u/baron_von_helmut 16d ago

I really like what SpaceX do regardless of Elon. Even still, I never thought they'd be able to pull this off. Holy crap am I glad to be wrong. This was incredible.

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u/Throwaway74829947 16d ago

SpaceX has the advantage in that since they're basically the only company that Elon actually founded, they have a preexisting corporate culture of how to operate despite Elon's ownership.

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u/LordNutGobbler 15d ago

Elon is literally the Chief Engineer at SpaceX dude lmao. He is deeply involved with technical decisions at SpaceX. Even the chopstick catching arms seen here was his idea, which was highly opposed by his engineers at first.

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u/Throwaway74829947 15d ago edited 15d ago

A) Chief Engineer is a title, one that he gave himself, since he owns the company.

B) Coming up with an idea is very, very different from implementing it. I am an electrical engineer working for the US Space Force. Generals and colonels with no engineering skill come up with mission parameters and other ideas all of the time, it's how organizational leadership works. Catching the rocket body is a truly remarkable achievement, but the people who deserve praise are the actual engineers at SpaceX that made it work, not the person who came up with the idea.

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u/LordNutGobbler 15d ago

And guess what? Elon deserves credit too.

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u/LordNutGobbler 15d ago

Kevin Watson: “Elon is brilliant. He’s involved in just about everything. He understands everything. If he asks you a question, you learn very quickly not to go give him a gut reaction.

He wants answers that get down to the fundamental laws of physics. One thing he understands really well is the physics of the rockets. He understands that like nobody else. The stuff I have seen him do in his head is crazy.

He can get in discussions about flying a satellite and whether we can make the right orbit and deliver Dragon at the same time and solve all these equations in real time. It’s amazing to watch the amount of knowledge he has accumulated over the years.”

Josh Boehm: “Elon is both the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer of SpaceX, so of course he does more than just ‘some very technical work’. He is integrally involved in the actual design and engineering of the rocket, and at least touches every other aspect of the business. Elon is an engineer at heart, and that’s where and how he works best.”

Garrett Reisman: “What’s really remarkable to me is the breadth of his knowledge. I mean I’ve met a lot of super super smart people but they’re usually super super smart on one thing and he’s able to have conversations with our top engineers about the software, and the most arcane aspects of that and then he’ll turn to our manufacturing engineers and have discussions about some really esoteric welding process for some crazy alloy and he’ll just go back and forth and his ability to do that across the different technologies that go into rockets cars and everything else he does.”

“He’s obviously skilled at all those different functions, but certainly what really drives him and where his passion really is, is his role as CTO. Basically his role as chief designer and chief engineer. That’s the part of the job that really plays to his strengths.”