Gwynne Shotwell is leading SpaceX’s efforts to become the future of commercial space travel

The future of space travel may not be with NASA.

SpaceX, the $21 billion company founded by Elon Musk, has become a juggernaut in pushing space travel ahead. Sometimes far ahead. A lot of that is thanks to Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, who has worked at the company since 2002.

In 2017, Shotwell was responsible for planning SpaceX’s first commercial launch out of Kennedy Space Center and the launch and landing of two rockets in two days. It was part of the world’s fastest launch cadence, with 16 successful launches so far. SpaceX also made history this year when it successfully reused a rocket.

The company is on track to send American astronauts into space in 2018.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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