On the morning of February 10, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) released the list of additional academicians of the National Academy of Engineering in 2021, of which Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk were selected. Musk retweeted the NAE Tweet article, saying "thank you very much."
As for why, NAE wrote that SpaceX founder, CEO, and principal engineer, Musk, made breakthroughs in the design, engineering, manufacturing, and operation of reusable launch vehicles and sustainable transportation and energy systems.
A total of 111 academicians and 22 foreign academicians were selected this time. In addition to Musk, there are Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Gray Denise, president of LG Energy Solutions Michigan, and McDonald John, head of Ge electric's smart grid business.