You may have heard that NASA just had what was probably the final night launch of the space shuttle. I was lucky enough to see one a few years ago from a beach in Connecticut, although it didn’t look like much more than a bright light screaming through the night sky. Our space program is going through a lot of changes, and it seems that current funding for some future programs isn’t what the people at NASA were hoping for. Many fans of the space program are disappointed and pessimistic about the future of space exploration. Luckily, the past decade has led to the rise of private space companies that are taking up a lot of the slack when it comes to space flight. One of these companies is Hawthorne, CA based SpaceX, which was started by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk in 2002. Their focus is on building launch vehicles (mostly for satellites) that are not only more reliable, but also more affordable.

JobX

SpaceX has been growing like crazy—in late 2005 they had 160 employees, and now they employ more than 800 people. Not only has SpaceX grown at an impressive rate up to this point, but they seem to be continuing their growth. Their Jobs page shows more than 70 open positions. As long as the government keeps cutting its funding for space program, the private aerospace industry is going to keep booming. SpaceX is well positioned as they already have a track record of success—they were the first private company to develop a launch vehicle and reach earth orbit from the ground.

If that sounds like something that you want to be part of, then you should check out jobs at SpaceX—they even have opportunities for people who don’t have a background in aerospace. They identify 7 of the jobs that they have posted as being for new graduates: Dynamics Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer, Mechanical Engineer- Fluids & Thermal, Mechanical Engineer- Structures, Software Engineer, and Systems Engineer. There are plenty of other positions posted, so you may want to check them out even if they’re not explicitly identified as being for new grads—these include jobs in Marketing, HR, Technical Writing, and more. You can apply online for positions at SpaceX, and you should also take note of the following:

Since the people we seek tend to be highly sought after, SpaceX offers up to a $5000 referral award to anyone who refers a candidate we hire.

If you end up applying for a job at SpaceX, please let them know that you found about them from One Day, One Job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• SpaceX.com
• Jobs at SpaceX
• About SpaceX
• SpaceX News
• SpaceX’s Launch Manifest

What do you think about the private aerospace industry?

We've identified SpaceX as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• aerospace
• all employers
• California
• engineering
• flight
• information technology
• physics
• science
• software development

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