Tom Mueller

Founding propulsion lead (former VP/CTO of Propulsion)

Tom Mueller is a rocket-engine designer often called SpaceX employee No. 1. Before SpaceX he built the world's largest amateur liquid-fuel engine in a garage, which drew Musk's attention. As VP and later CTO of Propulsion he led development of the Merlin engines for Falcon 1 and Falcon 9, the Draco and SuperDraco engines for Dragon, and helped seed the Raptor program. He retired in 2020 and founded Impulse Space.