[nemosaltat]

I worked there briefly after leaving the Navy. I worked in nuclear power on submarines, both of which have incredibly high standards for QA. During my short time at SpaceX, I was fairly shocked by their QA process and ultimately their failure analysis “procedure.” In June 2015, they hadn’t had a catastrophic failure in something like 8 years. We all went in on Sunday (happened to be Elon’s birthday) to watch the launch from the Hawthorne campus. Coming from the Navy, I was expecting weeks or even months of “stand-down” and review. Ultimately, the failure was quickly attributed to a failed rod end bearing and if IIRC we are back to business as usually by Thursday. It was that response (or lack thereof) that prompted me to seek alternate employment. I wish SpaceX all the best, but can’t imagine being there as they move closer to manned flight.