SpaceX's COO says regulations are slowing progress
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has famously taken to conservative politics in brand-new ways this year — broadcasting his overwhelmingly pro-business views on X — and he will play a role in Donald Trump’s incoming presidential administration. Trump has tapped Musk to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
But SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell — one of the company’s first employees who now runs its day-to-day operations — is also making clear her stance on the US regulatory environment and warning that oversight may be slowing down technological progress.
“It’s not helping. It’s slowing,” Shotwell said of regulation during the November 15 Baron Investment Conference conference in New York. “And all we ask is, regulate industries, make them safe, make them right, make them fair — but you gotta go faster. Much faster.”
She added that, in her view, “the regulatory regime and the rules associated with that were built for 10-launch-a-year per company.” SpaceX, for reference, is on track to launch more than 130 Falcon rockets in 2024 alone, she said. And Shotwell said she expects Starship will launch 400 times within the next four years.
“Technology is easy. Physics is easy,” Shotwell added, referencing Starship development. “People are hard and regulator people are the hardest.”
(Musk, meanwhile, has gone so far as to endorse social media posts that accuse the federal workforce as amounting to a “giant looting operation.”)
While Shotwell tends to approach political topics with a more reserved tone than Musk, she also sung the CEOs praises during the Friday event: “I love working for Elon,” she said. “Like I don’t have to work, and I love working for Elon.”
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