Skip to content

Behind the Scenes With the World’s Most Ambitious Rocket Makers – An improbable partnership between an Internet mogul and an engineer could revolutionize the way NASA conducts missions—and, if these iconoclasts are successful, send paying customers into space.

by early 2002 Mueller had moved his operations to a friend’s rented warehouse and was putting the finishing touches on the world’s largest amateur liquid-fuel rocket engine, an 80-pounder designed to produce 13,000 pounds of thrust.

Mueller’s ambitious moonlighting caught the attention of Internet multimillionaire Elon Musk, who met the engineer at the warehouse in January 2002 as Mueller was trying to attach his homemade engine to an airframe. Fresh from the $1.5 billion sale of PayPal to eBay, Musk was seeking staff for a new space company, soon to be called Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX. He eyed the rocket engine and asked a simple question: “Can you build something bigger?”

Mueller never fired that engine. He took it back to his garage, where it still sits. Instead, he took up Musk’s offer to join the nascent private space venture.

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Picture of admin

admin

Contributors to the NSS Blog are unpaid volunteers. Unless specifically labeled an NSS position or press release, all blog posts represent the views of the author and not of NSS, even if written by an NSS officer.

Leave a Comment

Search
Categories
future 1

Don't Miss a Beat!

Be the first to know when new articles are posted!

Follow Us On Social Media

JOIN THE
GREATEST ADVENTURE

Give The Gift Of Space: Membership For Friends and Family

Book Review

Archives

ISDC 2025:
Together Beyond!

In Orlando at the Rosen Centre Hotel.
June 19 - 22, 2025

Recent Blog Posts

The National Space Society invites you to the next Space Forum Thursday, June 12, 2024, 9:00 pm to 10:15 pm EST Behind the Lens: CapturingFive

Isaacman Will Be the Featured Speaker at Dinner Event on June 21 in Orlando, FL Private astronaut and philanthropist Jared Isaacman will speak at the

Category: Nonfiction Reviewed by: Susan Raizer Title: Into the Void: Adventures of the Spacewalkers Author: John Youskauskas and Melvin Croft Format: Hardcover/Kindle/Audiobook Pages: 392 Publisher:

The National Space Society has just released a Position Paper on the NASA 2026 Skinny Budget. Précis: NSS advocates increasing NASA’s budget rather than reducing

Category: Nonfiction Reviewed by: Douglas G. Adler Title: Amazing Worlds of Science Fiction and Science Fact Author: Keith Cooper Format: Hardcover/Kindle Pages: 224 Publisher: Reaktion

National Space Society Annual Event Will Be Held on June 19-22 in Orlando, FL The National Space Society is pleased to announce that former NASA

The National Space Society invites you to the next Space Forum Thursday, May 22, 2024, 9:00 pm to 10:15 pm EST Blue Ghost’s Moon Mission:

The National Space Society ISDC Will be Held in Orlando, FL in June Former NASA astronaut Dr. Story Musgrave will receive the prestigious Robert A.

Your Doorway to New Worlds