Tom Mueller M.S. ‘92, an alumnus of Loyola Marymount University’s graduate program in mechanical engineering, was the keynote speaker at this fall’s Seaver Spotlight speaker series, addressing a standing-room-only audience during his presentation titled “It IS Rocket Science: An Engineer’s Path to CEO.” Speaking to the Seaver community in the packed Life Sciences Building auditorium, Mueller detailed his journey from Idaho logger in a town of 2,600 to LA-based rocket scientist that helped transform the space industry.
LMU Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering Dean Tina Choe kicked off the evening by announcing that the event marked a full decade of Seaver Spotlights that have featured various distinguished alumni and members of the STEM community. She also shared that Mueller himself was instrumental in the decision-making process around the university’s planned Engineering Innovation Complex. “Tom chaired our Engineering Innovation Complex steering committee and was the first donor to pledge a significant investment towards our new building,” Choe said before handing the time over to the keynote.
Mueller detailed his lifelong passion for science, including taking apart and successfully putting back together his dad’s lawnmower, and the curiosity that eventually led to attending the International Science Fair in Anaheim in 1978. His determination brought him back to California after earning his undergraduate degree in engineering, where he started at Hughes Aircraft as a mechanical engineer and then worked at TRW as a propulsion development engineer. “I learned a lot from the scientists, engineers, and physicists over at TRW. It was a great place to learn how to do rocket science right. But also, I felt like I was a pretty smart guy who had great ideas, and they were getting diluted by working at a big company. So I started working on amateur rockets,” Mueller said.
Mueller joined Reaction Research Society in 1990 where he developed a liquid rocket, which became his LMU master’s thesis as a student in Seaver College’s master’s program in mechanical engineering. “It was refreshing to be able to do what I wanted to do,” he said, adding that the project and his time at Seaver were pivotal in his career.
When he met eventual SpaceX founder Elon Musk, they put their heads together to lower costs for space travel, which Mueller was confident he could contribute to. “What he wanted to hear was some optimism. And the answer that no one could give was, yes, I think I could. So that was the start of what became SpaceX,” Mueller said.
During his tenure, he led the development and production of the most reliable rocket engine ever developed, the Merlin, which has the highest thrust-to-weight ratio in the world. “I knew I couldn’t do it myself, I had to have a team.”
In getting into the details that allowed the team to meet their space travel goals, he talked about the importance of materials and resources and thinking outside the norm to cut production costs while ensuring the rockets could deliver payloads to Mars. “I’m super proud of what we achieved at SpaceX and I still feel like I’m a SpaceX-er,” Mueller said, explaining that he is still in touch with his crew members from his time there.
He spent 12 years as a VP, then served as Propulsion CTO before retiring from SpaceX in 2020.
“Within about six or eight months, I started another company because I got bored, which is called Impulse Space,” he joked. “What SpaceX did for getting to space, we want to do for the rest of the solar system.”
While he primarily worked as an engineer at SpaceX, Mueller’s responsibilities in his new role as CEO have expanded to include long-term growth, keeping eyes on the market, and balancing stakeholder and employee expectations. “When I was at SpaceX, we never knew what was going on…we were just heads down working on flying the next rocket,” he said. But he loves to apply his optimism to Impulse Space, by shaping the company’s vision and strategy in an effort to lead and inspire a new era, saying “I think the true space age is starting now.”
Answering a student’s question about his role as CEO, he said he learned a lot from his time at SpaceX. “Musk hired great doers, and he was a great mentor for me in what he did right and what he did wrong,” Mueller said.
Seaver Spotlight is LMU Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering’s signature speaker series featuring distinguished leaders in STEM who share their experiences and insights as they seek to live lives of meaning and purpose.
