Meet SpaceX’s Engine Architect and Employee #1: Tom Mueller

YouTube ^ | January 31 2021 | TJ

[SmokingJoe]

If you've wondered just how Elon Musk, a guy who had no training in rocket engines and his work experience had consisted solely of founding companies like Zip2, PayPal etc which had nothing whatsoever to do with rockets, you can watch this video about SpaceX employee number one, Tom Mueller, a small town boy from a lower middle class, tree logging family from St Maries Idaho. (only 13 minutes)

The young Tom Mueller as a logger.

He worked as a tree logger for 4 years to save money to pay for his engineering degree at the University of Idaho, then went to work for TRW first designing satellites. He later moved on to designing liquid rocket engines. He was the lead engineer for the TR 106 liquid rocket engine for TRW. Musk heard of him when Mueller designed and built own rockets in a friend's garage then launched his rockets in the Mojave Desert in California. Mueller had launched the biggest rocket built by a private individual. Mueller is the father the Kestrel, Merlin, Draco and Raptor engines. The Merlin engine has the highest thrust to weight ration of any liquid rocket engine in history. It is worth noting that when Must started SpeceX, he only had approx $180 Million in his pocket which he realized when PayPal was sold to Ebay. Today, SpaceX has the only rocket that can send Americans to the International Space Station.

[SmokingJoe]

And oh, not all Mueller's are evil like Robert Mueller. Not even close. :)

[wildcard_redneck]

Men who come from small towns, grew up in farms, and who have worked risky jobs like logging make the best engineers. Growing up they have dealt with and applied real-world engineering. When you have to make do, you get better at making things work and solving problems.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Great video! Thanks for posting that. What an amazing story — from a poor boy in a logging family in St. Maries, Idaho to the lead engine designer at SpaceX.

He did it entirely with hard work, smarts, diligence, and drive and in spite of being white. There were no “woke” hand-outs and accommodations to Mueller.

BSME, University of Idaho
MSME, Loyola Marymount University

No engineering degree from MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, etc.

Also kudos to TJ Cooney for his channel. He is an outstanding presenter and has a great screen presence. The video is very professionally produced and moves at the right pace with excellent narration.

[Yardstick]

Three cheers for highly exceptional people.

[SmokingJoe]

I agree with all that.
The video really makes one feel good.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“The video really makes one feel good.”

Indeed! Good old American ingenuity and brilliance combined with hard work and determination. Those are the good, old-fashioned qualities we all admire and respect. At least most of us still do.