--- title: "SpaceX Is Buying a Company That Makes Parachutes for Spacecraft" description: "In a rare acquisition by the launch provider, SpaceX saved a venerable parachute vendor that was on the verge of bankruptcy." date: "2023-12-01" modified: "2023-12-01" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-buys-company-parachutes-spacecraft" categories: - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "spacecraft" - "SpaceX" - "the digest" --- # SpaceX Is Buying a Company That Makes Parachutes for Spacecraft ![In a rare acquisition by the launch provider, SpaceX saved a venerable parachute vendor that was on the verge of bankruptcy.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Oh Chute! SpaceX has quietly swooped in to buy a venerable parachute vendor on the verge of bankruptcy, [*The Information* reports](), in a rare acquisition by the launch provider as it gears up to play a pivotal role in [NASA's return to the Moon](). The company, Pioneer Aerospace, designs and manufactures parachutes for reusable spacecraft returning to Earth, including SpaceX's own Dragon capsule used by NASA to ferry astronauts and supplies to and from the International Space Station. According to a Florida bankruptcy filing by Pioneer's parent company, SpaceX bought Pioneer for a bargain-basement $2.2 million, approved by a judge on November 22. The move wasn't reported until this week. As *The Information* notes, it's the first publicly known acquisition by SpaceX since 2021, when it paid a far heftier $524 million for the satellite company Swarm in a bid to bolster its Starlink constellations. ## Grave Robber Pioneer has been in the business since 1938, providing parachutes for a [host of iconic NASA vehicles]() including the Gemini spacecraft, the Space Shuttle, the Galileo probe, the Mars Pathfinder mission, and most recently, the Mars Opportunity rover. By vertically integrating Pioneer, SpaceX not only saves a near-century worth of expertise from being lost — invaluable, as spacecraft parachutes [are notoriously difficult to engineer]() — but it potentially allows SpaceX to produce its own parts at a cheaper cost. The alternative — letting Pioneer go bust — could've been an incalculable setback. "Space is hard, but space parachutes are much harder," Abhi Tripathi, director of mission operations at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory and former SpaceX employee, [told *TechCrunch*](). "It's pretty much among the hardest things, other than a very complex propulsion system, to make." It sounds like a prudent move by SpaceX — and a welcome sign that, occasionally, sanity does still prevail over there. **More on SpaceX:** *[Elon Musk Unveils Plans for Next Version of Starship]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()