SpaceX CEO Elon Musk dismissed several executives after expressing dissatisfaction with the pace of development and testing for the company’s broadband satellite program.
According to Reuters, at least seven managers were removed within hours of Musk’s visit to engineers working on the Starlink project. Sources say Musk was concerned the program was not progressing quickly enough and that a management shakeup was necessary to accelerate progress.
“Musk quickly brought in new managers from SpaceX headquarters in California to replace a number of the managers he fired. Their mandate: Launch SpaceX’s first batch of US-made satellites by the middle of next year, the sources said.”
SpaceX holds authorization from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deploy 4,425 low-Earth orbit satellites between 2019 and 2027 to provide broadband service to remote and underserved areas. The company has also sought approval for an additional 7,518 satellites.
Sources reported that the project had been aiming for service availability by 2020, with initial satellite launches planned for mid-2019.
SpaceX has disputed parts of Reuters’ account, saying two managers departed voluntarily and that the departures occurred over a longer period than the report suggested.
Musk is widely known for setting ambitious deadlines, abrupt decision-making, and a forceful public persona. Earlier incidents underlined that reputation: he faced a libel lawsuit after publicly insulting British cave diver Vernon Unsworth, who had criticized a mini-submarine Musk offered during the rescue of 12 Thai children trapped in a cave.
In an interview with the New York Times, Musk described the previous year as “excruciating” and the “most difficult and painful” of his career, saying he had worked up to 120 hours a week and that his health and family life had suffered as a result.
(Image Credit: Photo by Dan Taylor/Heisenberg Media under CC BY 2.0)
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