Bulent Altan is a Turkish-American aerospace executive and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, known for his significant contributions to

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp., commonly referred to as SpaceX, is an America, American space technology company headquartered at the SpaceX Starbase, Starbase development site in Starbase, Texas. Since its founding in 2002, the compa ...

, an American

aerospace manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of Aircraft design process, designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a hi ...

and space transportation services company headquartered in

Hawthorne, California Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is part of a seventeen-city subregion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area commonly known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay. As of the 2020 United States cens ...

. He was also CEO of laser communications manufacturer Mynaric and is founding partner of venture capital firm Alpine Space Ventures.

Early life and education

Altan was born in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, and attended an Austrian middle- and high school in the city. At the age of 18, he moved to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and began his studies at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Established in 1868 by King Ludwig II ...

that he concluded with a

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from ) is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

in 2001. He furthered his education at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

where he gained a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

Aerospace Engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

in 2004.

Career

SpaceX – Falcon 1 (2004-2009)

Upon the end of Bulent Altan's studies and while working on a

cubesat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

project at Stanford he was approached by

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

to join SpaceX. As technical manager initially and later director he led the company's

avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...

, guidance, navigation, and control team and was instrumental to the

Falcon 1 Falcon 1 was a two-stage small-lift launch vehicle that was operated from 2006 to 2009 by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. On September 28, 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to s ...

launch campaign on

Omelek Island Omelek Island (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , pronounced ) is part of the Kwajalein, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a long-term lease (along ...

that resulted in the first privately funded, liquid-fueled spacecraft to reach orbit.

Space X – Falcon 9 & Dragon (2009-2014)

After initial successes and while working on

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

Altan became first senior director and then VP of

Avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...

& GNC and hence one of the four technical vice presidents of SpaceX working alongside

Tom Mueller Thomas John Mueller is an American aerospace engineer and rocket engine designer. He was employee No.1 of SpaceX and is the founder and now CEO of Impulse Space. Mueller is best known for his engineering work on the Merlin, Draco, Super Draco ...

(VP Propulsion), Timothy Buzza (VP of Launch) and Mark Jucosa (VP of Structures) as well as VP of Assurance

Hans Koenigsmann Hans-Jörg Königsmann (born 1963) is a German aerospace engineer who was ''Vice President of Flight Reliability'' for SpaceX until his retirement in 2021. Education and career Hans Königsmann obtained his aerospace engineering diploma at Tec ...

. He later went on to work with his team on the

Dragon capsule Dragon is a family of spacecraft developed and produced by American private space transportation company SpaceX. The first variant, later named Dragon 1, flew 23 cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS) between 2010 and 2020 bef ...

used to resupply the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(ISS) with cargo until he first left SpaceX in 2014.

Space X – Starlink (2016-2017)

Altan joined SpaceX again in 2016 to work on the company's first satellites for the

Starlink Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by Starlink Services, LLC, an international telecommunications provider that is a wholly owned subsidiary of American aerospace company SpaceX, providing coverage to around 130 countries ...

program. As VP of Satellite Mission Assurance he oversaw the development of the technology, the implementation of the business cases and markets until he eventually left SpaceX at the end of 2017.

Mynaric (2017-2023)

In 2019, Altan's professional journey led him to laser communications manufacturer Mynaric. Under Altan's leadership, Mynaric pivoted towards the United States as a key market, opened production facilities in Germany and the United States, and established itself as a dominant supplier of optical communications terminals for the Space Development Agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, a large global

satellite constellation A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global pass (spaceflight), coverage, such that at any time everywhere on E ...

. In 2021, Altan led the company to and through its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in the United States () before, in 2023, he resigned from his CEO position to become part of the supervisory board of Mynaric.

Other roles and ventures

During his break from SpaceX between 2014 and 2016, Altan also worked for Airbus Defense and Space and was a partner at TechFounders, a matchmaker between start-ups and established corporations in the ecosystem of the

. He was one of the first investors in

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

company

Isar Aerospace Isar Aerospace is a German aerospace company based in Ottobrunn near Munich. The company was founded in 2018. The company is named after a river that flows through Munich. Development The company is developing Spectrum, a two-stage, liquid-fue ...

, becoming their chairman and is one of the two founding partners of the

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm Alpine Space Ventures.

Personal life

Bulent Altan identifies as a Turkish-American national though he calls Germany often his second home. Besides English and Turkish, he is also fluent in German and divides his time between

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Trivia

Bulent Altan was initially reluctant to join SpaceX because of his wife's position at

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. Unbeknownst to Altan,

reached out to Google's co-founder,

Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American businessman, computer engineer and computer scientist best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was chief executive officer of Google from 1997 until August 2001 when ...

, to facilitate a relocation for his wife to

near SpaceX's headquarter in

. Musk then surprised Altan with this gesture during their interview, which convinced Altan to join SpaceX. Altan is an avid chef and regularly cooked his own interpretation of a “Turkish goulash” for the launch team at the

Kwajalein Atoll Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ) is part of the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking re ...

during the initial launch campaign of the

. His recipe has been reproduced in Eric Berger's book “Lift Off”.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altan, Bulent SpaceX people American venture capitalists American chief executives 21st-century American engineers Stanford University alumni Technical University of Munich alumni 1977 births Living people Engineers from Istanbul