Kiko Dontchev
@TurkeyBeaver
VP of Launch @ SpaceX and father of Finn and Otie
I recently did a talk at Summit on SpaceXs approach to exponential growth, specially the “algorithm”. Check it out! If you’re interested in joining the best team in the Universe, don’t hesitate to reach out m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOWakx…
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Biggest startup lesson? Even once you’ve achieved significant success, leaders must stay maniacally urgent, dive into the details, and drive results obsessively.
Biggest startup lesson? Even once you’ve achieved significant success, leaders must stay maniacally urgent, dive into the details, and drive results obsessively.
Today marks 15 years @SpaceX. I spent last week at HQ in Starbase and couldn’t help but get sentimental. Much has changed since my first day in the office, but a few key things are identical. The mission, the energy, the buzz in the building, and the awe of walking around a…
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Starlink is committed to its mission to connect the unconnected to high-speed, low-latency internet. Over the past year, as millions of new users have been added to the network, speeds and latency continue to improve → starlink.com/networkupdate
Proper way to end the first half of 2025 Both the east and west coast teams set records on these two missions: 🚀 New single pad launch to launch record: 56hr 31min 10sec. Additionally in a nod to rapid reuse, this was three launches in less than 5 days from the same pad: 118…
Falcon 9 launches back-to-back @Starlink missions from Florida and California, completing our 80th & 81st Falcon missions of the year
Great job to all who sailed on M/V Megan and made the @SpaceX human spaceflight program truly unique! We chartered Megan, then GO Searcher, in 2016 to learn how to recover payload fairings. After extensive modifications to support Dragon, we learned how to recover astronauts…
Thank you Gen. Panzenhagen for your service at the Cape and welcome Col Chatman!!! Go Sharks!
Today, we proudly conducted the SLD 45 Change of Command ceremony, as Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen passed the guidon to Col Brian Chatman. Thank you to everyone who made this event a success. Please join us in welcoming Col Chatman and his family to the Space Coast!
Godspeed AX-4!
Dragon has separated from Falcon 9’s second stage
Feeling pride for @Axiom_Space - and more than a little FOMO - seeing off the #Ax4 crew just before they head to the suit-up facility. Go Ax-4!
Reusability on Falcon and smart dispenser engineering have slashed the cost per kilogram to low Earth orbit (LEO) and boosted annual launch slots. This has lowered the barrier to entry for space startups, allowing them to test tech in orbit with just seed funding, giving hundreds…
Falcon 9 launches 70 payloads to orbit on the Transporter-14 rideshare mission
A lot of blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice were required to make it to this milestone. I have nothing but gratitude and immense love/respect for everyone who contributed along the way. 🙏
Falcon completes its 500th overall mission! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team for making the impossible possible on the road to rapidly reusable rockets!
Shout out to the @SLDelta45 and @SpaceX for the clean and precision demolition operation!!! Cheers to the future!
More: SLC-37B’s legacy launch infrastructure was demolished at 10:00am this morning. Let the new era of fully and rapidly reusable rockets at Cape Canaveral begin!
MAKE WAY FOR STARSHIP — The legacy launch infrastructure at Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 37B was demolished this morning, paving the way for a new era of reusable heavy-lift rockets in SpaceX’s Starship to launch from Florida.
This is a big deal! Great job by the Falcon Engineering team!
Last week, SpaceX successfully completed a controlled deorbit of the SiriusXM-10 upper stage after GTO payload deployment. While we routinely do controlled deorbits for LEO stages (e.g., Starlink), deorbiting from GTO is extremely difficult due to the high energy needed to alter…
Congrats to the @SpaceX team on launching 17 times in May, faster than a liftoff and landing every 2 days!
Five years ago, everything changed when I worked my first human space flight launch, with colleagues who became friends sitting on top of the rocket. Long live Demo-2 ♥️ Thank you Bob and Doug. I had the time of my life flying dragons with you.
Happy Demo-2 Day! Today marks the 5th anniversary of Falcon 9 returning human spaceflight capabilities to the United States
Five years already! Also the first crewed test flight of an orbital spacecraft since 1981. Truly an incredible achievement by the dedicated teams from NASA and SpaceX in Hawthorne, MacGregor, JSC, and KSC. Congratulations and thank you. Amazing to see where we are now!