by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Former SpaceX engineer Ashley Kosak has published an essay alleging rampant sexual harassment at Elon Musk’s space company, portraying a dysfunctional company where management is unwilling to respond to complaints or to discipline offenders.

The essay was published as seven women filed sexual harassment lawsuits against Tesla Motors, which is another company where Musk serves as CEO. The suits have accused the automaker of “fostering a culture of sexual harassment” against women. In October, Tesla was ordered to pay $137 million in damages to a former African American worker who alleged in a lawsuit he was subjected to racial discriminator and slurs “straight from the Jim Crow era.” Tesla has disputed the claims and is appealing the judgment.

In her essay published by Lioness, Kosak said she incidents of sexual harassment started when she was an intern at SpaceX and continued after she became a full-time mission integration engineer.

The Washington Post has a story examining the dysfunction at Jeff Bozos’ Blue Origin space company. It’s not a pretty portrait of the company under CEO Bob Smith. The new management’s “authoritarian bro culture,” as one former employee put it, affected how decisions were made and permeated the institution, translating into condescending, sometimes humiliating, comments and harassment toward some women and a stagnant top-down hierarchy that frustrated many employees. As […]

Blue Origin’s former head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams, who authored a critical essay about Jeff Bezos’ space company, has denied a claim that she was fired after repeated warnings about federal export control regulations. Abrams issued the following statement: I never received any warnings, verbal or written, from management involving federal export control regulations. When I was contacted by an internal software engineer about potential opportunities for violations within […]

Blue Origin has responded to an essay published by the company’s former head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams and 20 current and former employees accusing the company of having a toxic, sexist culture that overworks people and cuts corner on flight and environmental safety. The statement reads: Ms. Abrams was dismissed for cause two years ago after repeated warnings for issues involving federal export control regulations. Blue Origin has no […]

Blue Origin’s former head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams and 20 former and present Blue Origin employees have published a stinging essay accusing Jeff Bezos and his space company, Blue Origin, of creating a sexist working environment where employees are overworked and corners are cut on safety.

The essay, “Bezos Wants to Create a Better Future in Space. His Company Blue Origin Is Stuck in a Toxic Past,” was published on Lioness.co. A key theme is that Bezos’ vision of billions living in space colonies is seriously at odds with the environment within Blue Origin.

The authors wrote of a sexist and discriminatory atmosphere within a company that is predominantly male.