My aunt got me the number of a nice man who works there. I called him up, asked him some questions and got a tour out of the deal. I also got swag. In this case SpaceX swag consists of mints, post-its, a notepad, rocket shaped paper clips, a mission sticker, and a 64Mb rocket shaped flash drive.
It is a neat place. All of the engineers and support staff work in the same cubicle farm. Even the owner / CEO / CTO, Elon Musk, has a cubicle. They are building a big control room there as well. From there they will launch all of their vehicles whether they are physically on a small island in the pacific or in Florida.
Everywhere there are rocket engines. Most are Merlin engines being prepared for Falcon 9 launches. I was surprised to see how small the engines are. They are not much taller than I am. They are one of the most efficient kerosene / LOX engines ever built though.
The whole building has a cool energy about it. They are practical and doing some big dreaming at the same time. The people there looked like any one of the people I have worked with over the years, but they have a bit of an extra spring in their step because they are working on rockets.
One further point of interest, a small tidbit for my less geeky acquaintances, they have a full size mock-up of the 'Iron Man' on the production floor. Apparently Iron Man 2 was filmed in the building. Coming next summer to a screen near you.
Sam's Summary
- I visited Space Exploration Technologies Headquarters
- I planned an hour driving time
- It took 15 min
- I was early
- So I got to sit in there ultra modernish lobby with a connector saleswoman.
- The tour was good
- They gave me water and swag
- I asked a ridiculous amount of questions.
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