Will Focus On Company's Operational Activities

Space Exploration Technologies announced this week the appointment of Gwynne Shotwell as President, effective immediately. In her new position, Shotwell will be part of the Office of the Chairman and CEO and report to Elon Musk, CEO and CTO.

As President, she will focus on the operational activities of SpaceX, including sales, marketing, manufacturing, launch operations, legal, government relations and finance.

Shotwell joined SpaceX in 2002 as Vice President of Business Development to generate and manage SpaceX’s customer base and the company’s strategic and government relations. Previously, she served for 10 years at The Aerospace Corporation and before that, directed business development at Microcosm, Inc. She began her engineering career at Chrysler Motors.

In 2004, she was elected to the California Space Authority Board of Directors and currently serves on its Executive Committee. She has served as chairperson of the AIAA Space Systems Technical Committee and as an officer of the AIAA Los Angeles Chapter.

Shotwell graduated with honors from Northwestern University with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Applied Mathematics.

SpaceX is developing its Falcon line of launch vehicles, powered by internally-developed Merlin engines. As a winner of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services competition (COTS), SpaceX is hoping to fill the gap in American spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) when the Space Shuttle retires in 2010.

Under the existing Agreement, SpaceX will conduct three flights of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft, culminating in Dragon berthing with the ISS. SpaceX is the only COTS contender that has the capability to return cargo and crew to Earth.

FMI: www.spacex.com