The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos

by Christian Davenport

“I was told by everyone that you do not sue NASA,” Musk recalled. “I was told the odds of winning a protest were less than ten percent, and you don’t sue your potential future customer. I was like, look, ‘This is messed up. This should have been a competed contract, and it wasn’t.’” It was a simple matter of right and wrong, though that logic didn’t always appease the executives who’d have to be the ones to work with NASA. “Being the customer relationship person, I was always very worried about that,” said Gwynne Shotwell, who would become SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer. “But Elon fights for the right thing. And he says if people are going to get offended by you fighting for the right thing, then they are going to get offended.” From the beginning, SpaceX’s mantra was to “set audacious, nearly impossible goals and don’t get dissuaded. Head down. Plow through the line. That’s very SpaceX,” she said. “That’s kind of the deal.” Musk exuded swagger and confidence, and it spread to his employees. “SpaceX is a place where you get to be mouthy,” Shotwell said. “You get to express your opinion. You get to push really hard.” Still, Lawrence Williams, one of the few people SpaceX had in Washington to work government relations, got the message and emerged shaken from the meeting at NASA. He had spent most of his career in Washington, and had worked on the Hill as an aide on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. The message from NASA was clear, he said: “...