Seeking lessons on how to thrive in technology-driven careers amid fast-changing advances, Orange County educators and students turned Wednesday to local commercial-space pioneers SpaceX and Virgin Orbit.

Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX in Hawthorne, and Virgin Orbit Vice President Tim Buzza answered questions from students about how to bounce back from failures and succeed despite daunting odds at the morning showcase of science and technology career-prep programs.

This was the third annual OC Pathways Showcase event hosted by the Orange County Department of Education and Saddleback College at the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin.

“When faced with something really difficult, like a rocket failure, I find the best way forward is to put your head down and power through,” Shotwell said. “Don’t focus on the negative. Just figure out what you did wrong and fix it.”

And seek out teachable moments, she said: “You tend to learn more from failure than success because failures force you to look at yourself, your business and your technology, and figure out what went wrong.”

The program highlighted career training programs in biotechnology, engineering, information technology, digital media, advanced manufacturing and other technology-saturated industries.

“The acceleration of technology across all sectors of society is multiplying human capacity beyond what we previously thought was imaginable,” said Jeff Hittenberger, Orange County Department of Education’s chief academic officer. “The first industrial revolution was the steam engine. The second was electricity. The third, computers. The fourth industrial revolution is nanotechnology, biotechnology, artificial intelligence. Our students are getting ready for the revolution.”

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‘I listen really hard’

Buzza is a former vice president at SpaceX who joined Virgin Orbit three years ago to help launch its small-satellite delivery service.

“We worked from 2002 to 2006 just to get a little rocket to orbit, and we thought we had the right stuff,” Buzza said of SpaceX’s early days. “The first time we launched the rocket, it lifted off and looked gorgeous on a South Pacific island. We all cheered and then, 30 seconds later, the engine shut off and gravity took over. It came back down and exploded into probably 30,000 pieces no bigger than a toaster. So that was a pretty low point for us after a lot of work.”

When failure strikes, Buzza said to look to family, friends and co-workers for support. He said he and Shotwell spent some quality time snorkeling after that crash to clean up rocket fragments.

“You really want to figure out what you can learn from a failure,” Shotwell added. “You tend to learn more from failures because they force you to look at yourself, your business and your technology to figure out where you went wrong.”

She said a key to her success has been her ability to listen.

“A critical element for me is really listening hard to people: Is what they’re saying what they mean, or are there other things going on?” Shotwell said. “I listen really hard and that’s the best way to find solutions, from my perspective.”

Three engineering students interview SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Virgin Orbit Vice President Tim Buzza at a Wednesday morning OC Pathways Showcase of college prep technology programs. Photos courtesy Orange County Department of EducationShe discussed an even more devastating setback that hit SpaceX in June 2015 when its Falcon 9 rocket exploded shortly after launch. At the time, SpaceX had just succeeded in breaking up United Launch Alliance’s monopoly on government launch contracts and was under intense public scrutiny.

“The failure we suffered in June 2015 really set the company back,” she said. “But we powered through.”

SpaceX then completely redesigned its Falcon 9 rocket and, six months later, managed to be the first company ever to vertically land a rocket booster after a launch. It has since landed 17 previously flown boosters.

“The first time we attempted to land a rocket, it hit the ship,” she said. “I was like: ‘Yay we hit the ship!’ From my perspective that was a huge win. … Since then, we’ve landed 17 successfully.”

What’s more, the company has relaunched three previously flown boosters and anticipates that half of its 2018 launches will rely on used rocket equipment.

Commercial space exploration takes off

“We’re the little company that could,” Shotwell said. “We’ve come a long way. We’ve got billions of dollars of revenue on the books. We’re flying commercial satellites to orbit, and we’re also critically flying Dragon spaceships to the International Space Station to resupply science experiments as well as to keep the astronauts alive on the International Space Station.”

Next month, SpaceX plans to launch the Falcon Heavy rocket that can triple the Falcon 9’s thrust and the amount of weight it can carry to orbit. The company also is working to fly astronauts to the space station next year.

“It’s exciting for me to get up to go to work and learn something,” Buzza said. “The key is to keep opening up yourself to new opportunities. You have to continue to get to your uncomfortable zone and push yourself. And keep listening to your inner voice — the good one, not the crazy one.”

Students should seek out learning opportunities outside the classroom, he emphasized.

“There’s a lot more that you can do than your mind thinks you can do,” Buzza said.

Shotwell told a student who asked whether she’s faced challenges as a woman in a field dominated by men that she was rejected from a summer internship at a heating, ventilation and air conditioning company while she was working on her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering.

The university gave her the job but, when she called her boss a few days before she was set to start work, he said: “Oh you’re a girl, you can’t have this job,” she said.

“He said there would be heavy-lifting involved, and I said: ‘I’m an athlete. I’ll kick the asses of the rest of the interns.’ ”

But he wasn’t swayed, told her she didn’t get the job and hung up the phone.

“I actually wasn’t that horrified,” Shotwell said. “It was like, OK, I’ve got to go figure something else out.”

So she started her own business that summer installing wallpaper and helping with home renovations.