The SpaceX letter, headed вЂњan open letter to the Executives of SpaceX,вЂќ seen by Reuters, called Musk a вЂњdistraction and embarrassmentвЂќ to the company he founded. On Thursday, he told Twitter employees the platform should allow вЂњpretty outrageous thingsвЂќ as long as the content is not illegal. Reuters could not independently confirm that report.Д«illionaire Musk is pursuing a $44-billion bid for Twitter and has made clear his support of freer controls on speech on the site. The newspaper said ShotwellвЂ™s email said employees involved with circulating the letter had been fired for making other staff feel вЂњuncomfortable, intimidated and bullied, and/or angry because the letter pressured them to sign onto something that did not reflect their viewsвЂќ. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell sent an email saying the company had investigated and вЂњterminated a number of employees involvedвЂќ with the letter, the New York Times said. It had not detailed the number of employees who had been dismissed. The New York Times reported on Thursday that SpaceX had fired employees associated with the letter, citing three employees with knowledge of the situation. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Private rocket company SpaceX fired at least five employees after it found they had drafted and circulated a letter criticizing founder Elon Musk and urging executives to make the firmвЂ™s culture more inclusive, two people familiar with the matter said. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.ItвЂ™s also created a consortium that companies can join to make it easier to connect with SSC.

SSC is trying to be as accessible as possible to nontraditional businesses. White said another part of making procurement faster is creating a solid вЂњfront doorвЂќ for industry. ThereвЂ™s not a teaching timeframe to explain why I need to approve something as a head of contracting activity.вЂќ ItвЂ™s much easier for me to then approve things that come through because I already know about whatвЂ™s going on. IвЂ™m very familiar with what contracting activity is doing and what acquisitions are going on. вЂњIвЂ™m in the command where weвЂ™re doing the acquisition. вЂњThe mid-tier acquisition has really helped us to streamline how we do our satellite builds,вЂќ White said. White said SSC has been utilizing mid-tier acquisition and a consortium to connect with industry quickly and get contracts moving. The technologies for space move on a much faster timeline. SCC is not following traditional defense acquisition rules, though. If SSC cannot find what it needs from industry or from its allies, then the command will look into acquisition, White said. has 58 partnerships with about $3 billion in allied investments. SSC is working with allies on electromagnetic spectrum, intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance and other areas as well. White said DoD expects to save $900 million by putting the payload on NorwayвЂ™s satellite instead of doing a launch of its own. is putting a payload on a satellite that Norway is launching as well. TheyвЂ™re getting ready to build out their own global positioning system, but they have room on one of their satellite buses to house other payloads.вЂќ вЂњWeвЂ™re working with the Japanese to put one of our space domain awareness payloads on one of their GPS satellites. вЂњWeвЂ™ve got multiple countries partnering with us,вЂќ White said. After looking in the private sector, White said the Space Force is turning to its partners to grab products that are already available instead of creating something new. allies have been an integral part of building the space infrastructure.

SSC is not only interested in how commercial companies can help, however. вЂњCan we buy weather capability because we still build weather satellites? Can we buy weather capability services without having to go build something unique? So those are all in play as part of our Commercial Services Office.вЂќ

вЂњCan we find other ways of doing GPS or precision, navigation and timing through the commercial market?вЂќ said Joy White, executive director of SSCвЂ™s contracting activity, during a speech at the Government Contract Pricing Summit. The organization stood up its Commercial Services Office at the beginning of the year with the goal of reaching out to industry to find out what kinds of data and services are already available in the commercial sector that DoD and the Space Force can use. Space Systems Command (SSC) is adopting a вЂњbuy first, build lastвЂќ approach to acquisition for space products in hopes of rolling them out faster than relying on the militaryвЂ™s slower procurement system to remake the wheel. SAN DIEGO вЂ“ Space Systems Command is still not even a year old, however it is trying to find quick ways to procure space products so the Defense DepartmentвЂ™s need for those weapons increases.

Space news