Gwynne Shotwell talks about selling flight-proven rockets, Starship

Enlarge / Gwynne Shotwell speaks during the 2017 Forbes Women's Summit in New York City. (credit: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

SpaceX enjoyed its most successful year in 2020. Amid the pandemic, the company set a record for total number of launches: 26. All met their objectives. The Crew Dragon spacecraft flew humans-Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken-into orbit for the first time. And then it did so again, with the Crew-1 mission in November. SpaceX also made demonstrable progress on its next-generation Starship launch system.

Oh, and the company also became the largest satellite operator in the world with its Starlink internet service.

For SpaceX's president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, 2020 was indeed a watershed year. "It was a year of highlights," she said in an interview. "There's probably 10 things that I would look back on this year and say were extraordinary."

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