It's Not Rocket Science

An interview with SpaceX executive chef Ted Cizma about butcher shop beginnings, feeding 3,500 people in an Aspen parking lot, building a restaurant inside a rocket factory, breakfast burritos in mission control, and ending childhood hunger. Live right, set a good example, and hope they are paying attention.

An interview with SpaceX employee number two Chris Thompson about garage rockets, an explosion in Garvey's backyard, beating Jeff Bezos in court, melting Elon's shoes in acetone, and Phantom's unfinished business. Work hard, fail fast, but don't bring the stress home.

An interview with mechanical engineer Laura Rose Plaxico about SpaceX, exploding batteries, making cheese in The Philippines, a Keurig for frozen yogurt, robot cars, and putting your pride aside. A theme of humility and learning throughout.

Tim Buzza led test and launch operations at SpaceX for 14 years, standing up and operating test sites, launch sites, and assembly lines from California to Kwajalein. Every step of the way, Tim not only demanded technical excellence, but brought out the best in everyone who worked for and with him. In our discussion we cover Tim's journey to and through SpaceX, Virgin Galactic and Rocket Lab, and finish up with some lessons on how to make the world better by acting locally.

Tom Mueller became SpaceX employee number one through a quirk of paperwork, and went on to design every SpaceX rocket engine from Merlin to Raptor, all because a high school math teacher asked him if he'd rather design airplanes than maintain them. In this episode, Tom and I discuss the role of optimism in project scheduling, the birth and evolution of Starship, and how Tom founded Impulse Space to create in-orbit mobility for the space economy.
 

(00:00) - IPO Hot Take

(00:59) - Becoming Employee One

(03:42) - Betting on SpaceX when others failed

(06:06) - The math teacher who changed everything

(15:01) - Building Starship: simplification, methane & the last test flight

(19:47) - Quintessential Elon moment: schedules

(24:36) - Leaving SpaceX and starting Impulse Space

(27:31) - Dragon & flying humans

(29:37) - Building Impulse & the "true space age"

(35:05) - Outside the rocket: the raise, racing & the magic lesson

(40:34) - Making the world a better place: the space economy & philanthropy