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Dowagiac’s Scout Hunsberger, a 2024 Southwestern Michigan College welding technology graduate, reached for the stars in her job search and is destined for Mars.

Hunsberger, 21, beat out seven male contenders for a SpaceX position, TIG welder for the Starship heat shield.

The 2022 Union High School graduate starts Jan. 26 and is in the process of moving to Brownsville, Texas, to join Starship, the reusable rocket transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.

If that sounds mind-boggling, Hunsberger is right there beside you. “I’ll be welding on Starship, which they hope to send to Mars. I think their goal is 2030,” she said.

Getting a job at SpaceX is known as extremely difficult, marked by intense competition, a rigorous multi-stage interview process with many sessions and high-performance expectations. Elon Musk owns the largest individual stake in SpaceX, estimated at 42-44 percent. The private company’s other major investors include Alphabet, Google's parent.

“I’m shocked. It’s crazy,” Hunsberger said, “walking through all these huge rockets. I didn’t think that was where (applying) was going to take me. Just getting the phone interview was crazy to me. ‘We’ll fly you out’ was a huge shock. Competing with several people was stressful, but it made me more determined. They just sent us on our way when it was down to me and two other guys. I got a call the next morning and they offered me the job.”

“For anybody going to SMC or debating going to college at all,” Hunsberger said, “even though it seems like you might not end up anywhere ‘crazy,’ definitely give it a chance and see where it takes you. Not everything is easy. It was really hard getting to where I’m at, but I’m glad for all of it.”

“I was just looking for a welding job,” she said. “I came across the application on one of the job apps. They emailed me back that night to set up a phone interview in early December. I had one with a recruiter and a second one with a weld supervisor. After that, they scheduled me to fly out (to Brownsville before Christmas) and do a two-hour weld test. That went well. Then I had two other interviews there as well, and a written weld test. “I didn’t know it was a hiring event, but when I got there the security guard said, ‘You’re competing against these other dudes’ waiting for a shuttle to come pick us up. That was a little nerve-wracking.”

“I was hands-on and didn’t want to sit at a desk,” though she was admittedly a “horrible welder” when she started classes at the Niles campus. “Daniel Miles (her SMC welding instructor) was a huge help in getting me where I am now in TIG welding,” Hunsberger said. “He’s one of the best professors, and his sternness helped me in the end. He got me in line.”

Miles is strict “and we didn’t get along at first,” she said. “My first semester he almost kicked me out of class for being late. He was excited” about her applying but tried to keep her feet on the ground with realistic expectations.

TIG welding (Tungsten Inert Gas) uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to create a high-quality, precise electric arc that melts metal, while an inert shielding gas such as argon protects the weld from contamination, resulting in clean, strong welds ideal for aluminum, stainless steel and thin metals in aerospace work.

The welder manually feeds a filler rod into the weld pool for reinforcement, offering exceptional control and aesthetics but requiring more skill than other methods, such as MIG.

Teams weld different sections of rockets. “Some hang from harnesses,” she noticed. “When individual parts are done, they bring (the assembly) to a mega bay and weld it all together with everything inside.”

Hunsberger is the daughter of an electrician who got interested in welding helping her dad around the barn as a girl.

To complete her one-year certificate, she also completed an internship with a Lawrence company.