Question: Who is the actual brain at SpaceX?? They must have at least one mega-genius level engineer / project manager with a lot of authority to have progressed so far.
Its Elon. He has obviously also hired some very, very smart dedicated people, but undoubtedly he is making all the key decisions and also driving the project forward.
If you don't believe me, believe Tom Mueller - Ex SpaceX Propulsion CTO - He was with SpaceX from the very start and the Merlin (Falcon 9 engine) and early work on the Raptor (Starship engine) was him. Tom has commented in various articles and on his twitter (I'm too lazy to find a link) that Elon was 100% involved in the technical issues and design of everything, and knew his stuff. He has said this after leaving SpaceX too, so it not just don't-badmouth-the-boss going on there.
Yep, it seems Elon has also become a hard-right asshole in recent years. Maybe he always was?
Why? Teams of non-mega-geniuses accomplish most successful engineering projects, including really hard ones. SpaceX have progressed so far because they've had a lot of funding and are willing to try stuff, fail, and try again.
