Gwynne Shotwell

As Elon Musk’s rocket and space empire prepares for a blockbuster IPO (the company is expected to seek a valuation as high as $1.75 trillion), its COO, Gwynne Shotwell has a new task on her hands: translating her boss’ moonshot ambitions into public-company discipline. Because, although SpaceX is a Musk company, it is Shotwell who runs day to day operations, almost 25 years after joining as employee No. 11. In 2025, SpaceX logged around 165 launches (approximately 85% of all U.S. orbital flights), while Starlink, its satellite-based internet service, passed 10 million customers. Meanwhile, the company hopes to send humans to Mars in its Starship rockets within the next five years. In short, Shotwell is the operator building a new era of spaceflight.