4 ms·
> it took many people from lots of different countries In a indirect way it did, (standing on the shoulders of giants, heritage of the people working there, et
by pilsetnieks 11y ago
> it took many people from lots of different countries
In a indirect way it did, (standing on the shoulders of giants, heritage of the people working there, etc,) however, unlike the other companies you mentioned, SpaceX only hires American citizens (because of government contracts and ITAR.) So it's basically an all-American effort.
- soperj 11y agoYeah, I love Elon's American accent.
- mikeyouse 11y agoHis maternal grandfather is American and he took the citizenship oath in 2002 -- Which is why America is pretty cool, many millions of Americans have foreign accents!
- SpaceX_Tech 11y agoI'm pretty sure Elon considers himself thoroughly American at this point. There are quite a few foreign born American citizens working at SpaceX, myself included. You may find this shocking, but seeing as English wasn't our first language, some of us even have foreign accents. I don't consider them, or myself, any less American.
- varjag 11y agoYou jest, but being an immigrant is a very American thing. Visit it sometime if you had not, it's quite a different place from what many people imagine from media dramatizations.
- lutorm 11y agoITAR allows greencard holders, so not everyone's an American citizen.
- SpaceX_Tech 11y agoNot only greencard holders but ITAR even has exemptions for non-US persons, that is those who aren't US citizens or Permanent Residents. I don't work directly with anyone like this but I know SpaceX has a few, not sure of the exact number, employees who are neither citizens nor permanent residents. From what I've heard the process of getting a non-US person ITAR cleared is extremely costly, both in time and money and is thus used very sparingly.