SpaceX To Lay Off Ten Percent of Workforce Amidst Stunning Success and Scrutiny

Launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy on debut test flight from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6, 2018.  Credit: Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com

Ken Kremer  --SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM –11 January 2019

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The hugely ambitious new space aerospace firm SpaceX plans to lay off about ten percent of its total workforce numbering some 6000 employees, amidst a series of stunning space successes over the past year and intense scrutiny on critical high-profile missions ahead this year for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS) - the company announced late Friday, Jan. 11.

SpaceX explained the decision to cut some 600 “talented and hardworking” people by stating they need to become a “leaner company”  while forging ahead with plans to launch “interplanetary spacecraft” and satellites enabling a “global space-based Internet.”

The surprising revelation of significant personnel layoffs literally came just hours after SpaceX scored another stunning launch and landing success Friday morning with the blastoff of the final batch of 10 Iridium communications satellites to orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

“To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company,” a SpaceX spokesman told Space UpClose.

“Either of these developments, even when attempted separately, have bankrupted other organizations. This means we must part ways with some talented and hardworking members of our team. We are grateful for everything they have accomplished and their commitment to SpaceX’s mission. This action is taken only due to the extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead and would not otherwise be necessary.”

The cost cutting measure comes just prior to what is without doubt the most important pair of missions for SpaceX to date – launch of the first human rated SpaceX Crew Dragon on its maiden test flight known as Demo-1 next month as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) to resume human spaceflight missions from the US and ferry astronauts to the ISS. 

Failure is not an option and the SpaceX team must work at peak performance despite the layoffs 

Demo-1 is a forerunner to the launch of Demo-2 on the first Crew Dragon test flight carrying NASA astronauts to orbit a few months later mid-year if all goes. 

The Demo-1 mission could fly as soon as February from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida – depending on when the US Government shutdown ends. 

The crew access arm, or astronaut walkway, at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, FL, is extended to the SpaceX Crew Dragon DM-1 spacecraft soon after the Falcon 9 rocket was erected vertical on Jan. 3, 2019. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX says they remain “financially strong” and investors retain “confidence in our vision and long-term prospects.”

Therefore SpaceX says they are undertaking a strategic realignment of their workforce, which translates into a company-wide 10% staff reduction all across the company from the East to West coasts and in between.  This is being done to “ensure the company remains best aligned to deliver for our customers while meeting our long-term goals of connecting the globe with reliable, affordable, broadband service and enabling a truly multi-planetary future for humanity” - namely Starlink satellites and  Starship spaceships.

SpaceX has spent Billions of Dollars developing their rocket reusability technology and Falcon Heavy launch system – which has been extremely successful thus far. But the return on investment may not have been recouped and may be a long time in coming.

SpaceX is valued at about $31 Billion. According to a Wall Street Journal report in Nov 2018 the company founded by CEO Elon Musk raised $250 million from its first-ever high-yield loan sale to help finance costly endeavors like Starlink and Starship.

Furthermore SpaceX will have to spend Billions more developing the Starship interplanetary architecture on space voyages to the Moon and Mars – supposedly starting in the mid 2020s.

However the bottom line is the remaining SpaceX staff will have to work even longer hours to accomplish even bigger goals.  And one wonders about the effect on the morale of those who survived the reduction in force and how so much cutting edge work can really be accomplished with fewer people.

Moreover in Nov. 2018 NASA began  a review of the work culture at SpaceX (and Boeing) to make sure no corners are being cut and the astronauts safety is not being compromised.  The reviews were announced after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk apparently smoked marijuana in a live online podcst.  

Towards that end SpaceX has ambitious plans for 2019 including launching two Falcon Heavy missions in the first half of the year, deploying the first set of Starlink satellites and beginning the first test hops of Starship – a next generation, fully reusable launch system that will be the most powerful ever built, capable of carrying humans to Mars and other destinations in the solar system, says the company.


But nothing is more important to SpaceX’s future than the resumption of America’s human spaceflight capabilities and successfully launching US astronauts to space this year for the first time in more than seven years.  

Even VP Mike Pence visited the SpaceX launch processing facility at Launch Complex 39A at KSC in mid-December 2018 as a show of the Trump Administrations support. 

VP Mike Pence tours the SpaceX launch processing facility with SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell to visit the Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 rocket on Dec. 18, 2018. Credit: SpaceX

NASA’s contract to buy new seats on the Russian Soyuz capsule for flights to the ISS ends with the last launch in July 2019.

So a domestic American carrier- either SpaceX or competitor Boeing is desperately needed to come online by the end of this year – or else no American astronauts will be serving aboard the primarily American built orbiting research laboratory. 

Launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Cargo Dragon on CRS-15 resupply mission to the ISS in June 2018. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The goal of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program is to restore America’s capability to launch human spaceflight missions from the U.S. to low Earth orbit (LEO) and the International Space Station (ISS) on American capsules with American rockets from American soil - and thereby end our 100% reliance on the Russian Soyuz capsules.

The US became solely dependent on Russia due to the forced shutdown of NASA’s Space Shuttles back in 2011 when both political parties failed to provide sufficient US Federal budget funding support to NASA’s human spaceflight programs.  

Target timelines for return US human spaceflight capability have been pushed back repeatedly since 2015 due to endless mindless political squabbling as well as technical challenges.

Here’s a link to my Fox News 35 Orlando interview and commentary about the negative impact of the US Government shutdown  on NASA- as seen on Jan 8:

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/government-shutdown-impacting-space-industry

Check this link for my Fox 35 News Orlando interview about the SpaceX Starship hopper- as seen on Jan. 11:

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/local-news/elon-musk-tweets-starship-hopper-pics

Starship test flight rocket just finished assembly at the @SpaceX Texas launch site. This is an actual picture, not a rendering.  Credit: SpaceX/Elon Musk

SpaceX accomplished a record breaking 21 launches in 2018.

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist, journalist and photographer based in the KSC area.

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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events