SpaceX
As the Vice President of Falcon Launch Vehicles, Jon Edwards leads a team of over 100 engineers in the development and operation of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. In this role Jon is responsible for all Falcon related development projects as well as the cost, reliability and performance of the vehicle during all phases of its life cycle. Jon routinely briefs President Gwynne Shotwell and CEO/CTO Elon Musk on the day-to-day challenges and direction of the Falcon 9 program. Jon also works closely with SpaceX’s commercial and government customers including the United States Space Force and NASA.
Jon has been with SpaceX since early 2004 after graduating with his B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University. Jon started his SpaceX career as the lead engineer for the Kestrel rocket engine and responsible engineer for the Falcon 1 upper stage. Soon after Falcon 1 successfully made orbit, Jon transitioned to Falcon 9 as the responsible engineer for the F9 2nd Stage. Over the next 10 years Jon played a key role in developing increasingly advanced versions of the Falcon 9 including v1.1, Full Thrust, and Block 5 – the most advanced and rapidly reusable heavy lift launch vehicle in history.
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SpaceX
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SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk to revolutionize space transportation, with the ultimate goal of making life multiplanetary. SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones. It is the only private company ever to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit, which it first accomplished in December 2010. The company made history again in May 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft attached to the International Space Station, exchanged cargo payloads, and returned safely to Earth — a technically challenging feat previously accomplished only by governments. Since then Dragon has delivered cargo to and from the space station multiple times, providing regular cargo resupply missions for NASA. SpaceX believes a fully and rapidly reusable rocket is the pivotal breakthrough needed to substantially reduce the cost of space access. The majority of the launch cost comes from building the rocket, which historically has flown only once. Compare that to a commercial airliner – each new plane costs about the same as Falcon 9 but can fly multiple times per day and conduct tens of thousands of flights over its lifetime. Following the commercial model, a rapidly reusable space launch vehicle could reduce the cost of traveling to space by a hundredfold. While most rockets are designed to burn up on reentry, SpaceX rockets can not only withstand reentry but can also successfully land back on Earth and refly again. SpaceX’s family of Falcon launch vehicles are the first and only orbital class rockets capable of reflight. Depending on the performance required for the mission, Falcon lands on one of our autonomous spaceport droneships out on the ocean or one of our landing zones near our launch pads.