Hans Koenigsmann
Hans-Jörg Koenigsmann (born ) is a German aerospace engineer who was "Vice President of Mission Assurance" for SpaceX until his retirement in 2021. Education and career. Hans Koenigsmann obtained his aerospace engineering diploma at the Technical University Berlin in 1989, followed by a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and Production Technology at the University of Bremen in 1995. He began working at the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity at the University of Bremen, where he was in charge of avionics and later management of the "BremSat" satellite. After successful launch and the end of the project one  year later, he emigrated to California to work for the satellite manufacturer "Microcosm Inc". He met Elon Musk at a rocket launch in the Mojave desert. In 2002 Hans Koenigsmann became the fourth technical employee for the newly-founded SpaceX. He was part of the launch team starting as VP of Avionics, then from the third Falcon 1 flight forward was the Launch Chief Engineer. SpaceX promoted him to Vice President of Mission Assurance in 2011 making him responsible for the safe completion of SpaceX missions. Koenigsmann announced his retirement from SpaceX in January 2021.