Gwynne Shotwell is an American businesswoman and engineer. She is the President and Chief Operating Officer at SpaceX, an American space transportation company, where she is responsible for day-to-day operations and company growth. As of 2018, she is listed as the 59th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. In 2002 Shotwell joined SpaceX as vice president of business development, also being given a seat on the SpaceX board of directors. She was its eleventh employee. The company builds the Falcon vehicle family which has launched more than 50 times representing about $5 billion in revenue. Shotwell is now President and COO of SpaceX, responsible for day-to-day operations and managing all customer and strategic relations to support company growth. In December 2010, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit, and recover a spacecraft. SpaceX is also working on a next-generation transportation system to take people to Mars in the near future.