Joe Petrzelka

Joe Petrzelka is currently the VP of Spacecraft Engineering at SpaceX. Prior to joining SpaceX, Joe worked as a Manufacturing Engineering Intern at John Deere from January 2006 to December 2008. During their time at John Deere, Joe worked on various projects related to drivetrain and final assembly, including new product introduction, process design, tooling design, time study, and continuous improvement. Joe's experience and expertise in the manufacturing engineering field has been a valuable asset to SpaceX, and has helped the company become a leader in the space industry.

Joe Petrzelka received their Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Joe also holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University, as well as a Bachelor of Science in the same field from the same school.

Joe Petrzelka works with Gwynne Shotwell - President & COO, Bret Johnsen - CFO & President, Strategic Acquisitions Group, and Charles Kuehmann - VP, Materials Engineering. Rajarshi Chattopadhyay - Lead Software Reliability Engineer, Lars Blackmore - Senior Principal Mars Landing Engineer report to Joe Petrzelka. Joe Petrzelka reports to Elon Musk, Founder, CEO & CTO.