Gwynne Shotwell on Selling Flight Tested Rockets, Starship

“It was easier to sell ‘flight-tested’ to customers than it was to sell Falcons. “

SpaceX enjoyed its most successful year in 2020. In the midst of the pandemic, the company set a record for a total number of launches: 26. All met its objectives. And then it did it again, with the Crew-1 mission in November. SpaceX also made demonstrable progress on its next-generation Starship launch system

Oh, and the company also became the world’s largest satellite operator with its Starlink Internet Service

To the President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell, 2020 was a watershed year. “It was a year full of highlights,” she said in an interview. “There are probably 10 things that I would look back on this year and say that they are exceptional. “

The safe launch of astronauts was probably the greatest. “Getting Bob and Doug into orbit and back safely, especially during this period, was such a terrible time in the world that was great,” she said.

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Shotwell came a few months after Elon Musk started the company in May 2002 to SpaceX. Originally, their job was to sell launches on the small Falcon 1 rocket that the company was developing. Over the years, however, Shotwell earned the trust of Musk – and he deserves her – and saw their responsibilities grow – SpaceX’s annual relationship had with NASA to launch cargo first and then astronauts to the International Space Station. Shotwell negotiated this first contract, signed in 2006, and has worked closely with NASA ever since. Attending the Crew-1 launch was a special moment for them.

Sales of flight-proven missiles

Shotwell was also busy working with commercial satellite customers and making it easier for them to launch with previously flown missiles. The vast majority of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets now use pre-flown first stages.

If a customer has a strong case in one way or another, the decision on which booster to use is left to SpaceX. “You buy a take-off service and we will provide you with the best possible vehicle in the time frame you need to fly,” she said. “And we basically put control in our hands for the most part. “

In truth, Shotwell said, convincing customers to fly flight-proven missiles wasn’t particularly difficult. It was easier to sell customers with the technology than it was to sell customers with the first Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 missiles.” This is because SpaceX did what it promised to do with rockets – design and fly inexpensive, reliable launch vehicles.

“It was easier to sell to customers ‘flight-tested’ than Falcons,” she said. “Obviously, people come to trust organizations and individuals to do what they say they are going to do when you demonstrate that kind of story. So we said we would get into orbit with Falcon 1, and we did. We said we would get into orbit with Falcon 9, and we did. We said we would get to the Station, and we did. So the sales pitch became much less difficult. “

Starship
Shotwell has also begun selling the untested Starship launcher system for commercial launches. In March 2020, the company released an initial” Payload User Guide “for the large rocket and discussions have started. Shotwell reiterated that the company essentially sells customers a launch ability, not a specific vehicle.

“We have signed contracts that we can choose to be a hawk or a spaceship,” she said. “We want to provide launch services and we want to provide them in the most cost-effective way for us and our clients, and in the most reliable way for us and our clients. So we really want that to be in our hands. We know we have work to do with the insurance community, just like we did with Falcon 9, just like we did with the reuse of Falcon 9. So there is still work to be done, but hopefully, people will trust that we are going to do what we intend to do. “

If there are technical issues with Starship and it’s late, Shotwell said the company can fall back on the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy vehicles. But she said SpaceX has already removed much of the risk with its Starship testing program,” Shotwell noted that the flight of the SN8 Starship prototype in December raised many concerns about the flight profile of the vehicle during a landing. “They always have concerns and problems with the schedule, but the amount of flight hardware in Boca with this team is really impressive.” When asked if she thinks Starship will hit orbit in 2021, Shotwell said, “I agree with yes. “

Starship is the culmination of much that SpaceX has been working on in its 18 years of existence. Shotwell took the plunge and joined the then-unknown company because, like Musk, she will be.

“We’re not doing it to embarrass people, but we’re definitely excited to provide examples of how industries and companies can do better,” said Shotwell. “We’re not here to be negative – we’re here to provide some objective evidence and some truths that you can do better in this industry and this industry deserves to be better.”

Arstechnica / TechConfllict.Com