{"id":294760,"date":"2025-09-26T08:18:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T15:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teslarati.com\/?p=294760"},"modified":"2025-09-26T08:21:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T15:21:49","slug":"astra-ceo-shades-spacex-over-employee-workload-and-starbase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teslarati.com\/astra-ceo-shades-spacex-over-employee-workload-and-starbase\/","title":{"rendered":"Astra CEO shades SpaceX over employee workload and Starbase"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Elon Musk once stated that no one ever changed the world working just 40 hours a week. This was something that is openly known among his companies. They have the potential to change the world, but they require a lot of hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SpaceX\u2019s working environment was recently criticized by Chris Kemp, the chief executive officer of Astra. During some remarks at the Berkeley Space Symposium 2025 earlier this month, Kemp shared some sharp remarks about the Elon Musk-led private space enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SpaceX working conditions and Starbase<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As noted in a report from Ars Technica<\/a><\/em>, Kemp discussed a variety of topics during his talk. These included Astra\u2019s successes and failures, as well as his thoughts on other players in the spaceflight industry. To be fair to Kemp, he practically shaded every major rival, calling Firefly\u2019s engine \u201cgarbage,\u201d dubbing Blue Origin as slow, and stating that Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron rocket is \u201ctoo small.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SpaceX also received some colorful words from the Astra CEO. According to Kemp, SpaceX is leading the way in the spaceflight industry and Elon Musk is admirable in the way that he is willing to fail in order to move quickly. He did, however, highlight that Astra offers a significantly better working environment than SpaceX.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s more fun than SpaceX, because we’re not on the border of Mexico where they’ll chop your head off if you accidentally take a left turn. And you don’t have to live in a trailer. And we don’t make you work six and a half days a week, 12 hours a day. It’s appreciated if you do, but not required,\u201d Kemp said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Astra CEO:

"It's more fun than SpaceX, because we're not on the border of Mexico where they'll chop your head off if you accidentally take a left turn. And you don't have to live in a trailer. And we don't make you work six and a half days a week, 12 hours a day. It's\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/HuF2jVje5z<\/a><\/p>— Space Sudoer (@spacesudoer) September 25, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>