By now you've heard the news: SpaceX will conduct an initial public offering of stock in 2026 -- at a valuation of $1.5 trillion. CEO Elon Musk personally owns 42% of the company. Added to the $484 billion Musk is already worth, a $1.5 trillion valuation on SpaceX would make him officially the world's first trillionaire.

Shotwell has an expansive role at the rocket and satellite company, helping to foster its rise. With an IPO looming, the toughest stretch may still lie ahead.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying about 40 payloads, including NASA's Pandora exoplanet satellite, is scheduled to lift off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base during a 57-minute window that opens at 8:19 a.m. EST (1319 GMT and 5:19 a.m. local California time).

The FCC's partial grant lets SpaceX operate 7,500 more satellites, for a total of over 19,000 in Earth's orbit, and use even more radio bands at higher power limits.

The Federal Communications Commission said on Friday it has approved SpaceX's request to deploy another 7,500 second-generation Starlink satellites as it works to boost internet service worldwide.

In 2023, at a SpaceX campus just northeast of Seattle, the company converted a small office room into a production lab to help make satellites for global internet service provider