Tom Mueller, the first employee hired at SpaceX, said the company evolved from a risky 2002 startup into a multi-trillion-dollar public company [1, 6].
Mueller's perspective provides a rare look at the internal scaling of a company that fundamentally altered the cost of accessing orbit. His transition from a key SpaceX engineer to the CEO of his own venture reflects the broader trend of a maturing commercial space economy, where former industry pioneers are launching specialized satellite and transport services.
Speaking on Bloomberg Television's program "The Close," Mueller said the trajectory of the rocket maker [1]. He noted that the company's valuation as a public entity has reached $2 trillion [1], though other reports on the historic initial public offering place the valuation between $1.7 trillion and $1.77 trillion [2, 3]. Mueller said the IPO would be life-changing for thousands of workers [2].
Beyond the growth of SpaceX, Mueller is now leading Impulse Space, a company headquartered in Redondo Beach, California [4]. His new venture focuses on the space economy beyond launch rockets. Impulse Space recently completed a $500 million Series D funding round [4] and has reached a company valuation of $4.26 billion [5].
Mueller described the rise of SpaceX as a "hockey stick" growth curve [5]. He credited the company's success to its ability to hit key milestones that shifted the industry toward reusable launch systems. This infrastructure has paved the way for new startups to operate in orbit without the prohibitive costs associated with the early 2000s.
As the space economy expands, Mueller said the current milestones are only the beginning of a larger shift in how humanity utilizes the vacuum of space [1].
“SpaceX evolved from a risky 2002 startup into a multi-trillion-dollar public company.”
The transition of early SpaceX leadership into new ventures like Impulse Space signals a shift in the aerospace industry. While SpaceX established the 'railroad' by lowering launch costs, the next phase of the space economy focuses on 'last-mile delivery' and orbital maneuvering. The massive valuations of both the parent company and its spin-off ventures indicate that investors now view space as a viable, scalable commercial sector rather than a high-risk experimental frontier.
