• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Exclusive

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

MPWSpaceX

An ex-engineer says she was harassed and groped at Elon Musk’s SpaceX ‘bros’ club’

Emma Hinchliffe
By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
Most Powerful Women Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
Emma Hinchliffe
By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
Most Powerful Women Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 14, 2021, 8:18 AM ET

Three months ago, Ashley Kosak read a letter from former Blue Origin employees alleging a toxic and sexist work environment at Jeff Bezos’s commercial spaceflight company. The document made her think about her experience at her own employer: Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Kosak, who resigned from her job as a mission integration engineer in November, published a letter of her own Tuesday morning, describing her experience with sexual harassment at SpaceX and what she calls failures by management and human resources to address it. (The letter, like the piece by Blue Origin employees, published on the website of Lioness, a firm that works with whistleblowers.) “I just needed to fix this problem,” Kosak says of why she began reporting her experiences to HR, speaking to Fortune in an interview before the letter’s publication. “Because it [was] keeping me from getting my job done.”

Like Blue Origin, SpaceX was founded by a billionaire CEO—in this case Tesla chief Musk—with a vision for human life in space. As SpaceX describes it: “All SpaceX employees directly contribute to making our mission of making humanity multiplanetary a reality.” SpaceX reportedly had nearly 10,000 employees earlier this year—led by a founder with a penchant for posting flippant responses to serious issues on Twitter and in an industry known to be male-dominated. The company has faced discrimination allegations before, including a lawsuit by a former intern that alleges retaliation after she reported sexual harassment and an investigation by the Department of Justice over alleged discrimination against non-U.S. citizens in hiring.

Kosak, now 25, began working at SpaceX as an intern in 2017—taking breaks from her engineering degree to work for eight-month stretches at a time—before joining full-time as a build reliability engineer in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in 2019. Almost immediately, she writes, she encountered sexual harassment at work. During her internship, she writes, she was groped by both a fellow intern and a full-time SpaceX employee, and reported the incidents to supervisors and human resources to little effect, she says.

Former SpaceX engineer Ashley Kosak.
Courtesy of Ashley Kosak

During her tenure as a full-time engineer, she says, various male colleagues inappropriately touched her in social settings; called her at 4 a.m.; asked her out over Instagram direct message; and often inappropriately stared at women in the office. “It’s a bros’ club,” Kosak says. “If you’re able to be part of the social atmosphere, it’s really helpful for your career. But if you’re a woman, you’re only seen as a potential dating option.”

The safety of SpaceX interns became an especially important point for Kosak as she began to look back at her earliest years at the company. “When I was younger, I couldn’t understand how scary and unfair a power dynamic like that was,” Kosak says of the disparity between an intern and a full-time engineer. “Now that I’m a full-time engineer, I understand it crystal-clear.”

It was the work she did at SpaceX that persuaded Kosak to return to the company as a full-time employee, despite the harassment she says she faced as an intern. “The engineering, it’s just wonderful. The work you’re able to do, the mission you’re able to work on—you’re really motivated by that,” she says. “A lot of harassment follows you where you go, so you pick the place where you can do your best work. And this was where I could do my best work.”

Kosak says she met with human resources or management at least four times about these concerns and was told that, in some instances, “matters of this nature were too private to discuss with perpetrators.” In a women’s employee resource group, she and fellow female employees put together a “matrix” that suggested potential consequences for common harassing behaviors. She says they submitted the suggested framework to HR, but did not hear back.

In one meeting, Kosak says she spoke to SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell—the highest-ranking woman in the U.S. commercial space industry. But Kosak says that wasn’t on her mind during their meeting, which took place after she wrote a letter to Shotwell outlining her experience with harassment over her years at the company. “I just saw her as the president of my company,” Kosak says.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment on Kosak’s allegations.

Kosak says she began to suffer panic attacks as she attempted to address these concerns with management in fall 2021, ultimately leading her to resign. (She now has a new full-time job and is working on an aerospace startup that would create biofuel for the launch vehicle market.) She says she did not sign any sort of nondisclosure agreement upon her departure.

More than 20 anonymous Blue Origin ex-employees signed the letter that group wrote about their former workplace, alongside former Blue Origin communications leader Alexandra Abrams, who attached her name to the missive. (At the time, Blue Origin did not respond to specific allegations but said in a statement that the company “has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind,” adding, “We provide numerous avenues for employees, including a 24/7 anonymous hotline, and will promptly investigate any new claims of misconduct.”) Kosak, in comparison, has published her letter solo.

Kosak hopes that by speaking up, other women will be compelled to advocate for their own safety at work. “For a woman, particularly an Asian American woman, to reach a position at this level in the space industry is next to impossible,” she writes in her letter. She added in an interview: “I didn’t know any engineering until I got to college. To be able to work at SpaceX, that’s almost like the American dream.”

Never miss a story: Follow your favorite topics and authors to get a personalized email with the journalism that matters most to you.

About the Author
Emma Hinchliffe
By Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Emma Hinchliffe is Fortune’s Most Powerful Women editor, overseeing editorial for the longstanding franchise. As a senior writer at Fortune, Emma has covered women in business and gender-lens news across business, politics, and culture. She is the lead author of the Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter (formerly the Broadsheet), Fortune’s daily missive for and about the women leading the business world.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in MPW

shyam
CommentaryHealth
World Economic Forum: women’s health gets only 20% of R&D funding. We must seize this $1 trillion opportunity
By Shyam BishenMay 18, 2026
13 hours ago
weld
Future of Workthe future of work
Meet a 21-year-old community college student who’s going to China as the first American woman welder in the trades Olympics
By Mike Householder and The Associated PressMay 17, 2026
1 day ago
‘No one was coming to save me’: How Reese Witherspoon built a $900 million company from a problem Hollywood wouldn’t fix
Successreese witherspoon
‘No one was coming to save me’: How Reese Witherspoon built a $900 million company from a problem Hollywood wouldn’t fix
By Sydney LakeMay 17, 2026
1 day ago
‘Be delusional enough to call yourself something the world hasn’t called you yet’: What powerful women told the class of 2026
NewslettersMPW Daily
‘Be delusional enough to call yourself something the world hasn’t called you yet’: What powerful women told the class of 2026
By Sydney LakeMay 14, 2026
4 days ago
Mrs. Dow Jones on what women get wrong about money
NewslettersMPW Daily
Mrs. Dow Jones on what women get wrong about money
By Sydney LakeMay 13, 2026
5 days ago
lamb
Arts & EntertainmentObituary
Joni Lamb, founder of one of the largest Christian TV networks in the world, dies at 65
By John Seewer and The Associated PressMay 11, 2026
7 days ago

Most Popular

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
AI
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
2 days ago
The top foreign holders of U.S. debt may soon dump Treasury bonds and bring their money back home, potentially spiking borrowing costs
Economy
The top foreign holders of U.S. debt may soon dump Treasury bonds and bring their money back home, potentially spiking borrowing costs
By Jason MaMay 17, 2026
23 hours ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
6 days ago
'No one was coming to save me': How Reese Witherspoon built a $900 million company from a problem Hollywood wouldn't fix
Success
'No one was coming to save me': How Reese Witherspoon built a $900 million company from a problem Hollywood wouldn't fix
By Sydney LakeMay 17, 2026
1 day ago
SpaceX heads into a record-shattering IPO with the 'deepest moat that exists today' as investors vow to 'never bet against Elon'
Innovation
SpaceX heads into a record-shattering IPO with the 'deepest moat that exists today' as investors vow to 'never bet against Elon'
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
2 days ago
Gen X is the most indebted generation in America. Their employers can fix that
Commentary
Gen X is the most indebted generation in America. Their employers can fix that
By Mary MorelandMay 17, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.