There are people who dream about the future, and then there are those who build it brick by improbable brick. Astro Teller has always belonged to the second group, though calling his bricks improbable might be an understatement. At X, the so-called moonshot factory at Google, he has spent the better part of two decades encouraging engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs to pursue ideas so bold they sound like science fiction… until they aren’t.
When I visited him at X, it was not a quiet entrance. Astro arrived as he often does, gliding in on rollerblades, his long ponytail catching the breeze, wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the silhouette of Yoda. “I like to move fast,” he said with a grin, which felt as much a statement of philosophy as it was a nod to his wheeled footwear. It felt like a fitting symbol for someone tasked with accelerating the future.
Astro is not easily defined by any single title. Scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, poet. He was born into a family steeped in science and letters. His grandfather was physicist Edward Teller, often called the father of the hydrogen bomb. His father, Paul Teller, was a physicist as well. Astro took a slightly more winding path. He studied computer science at Stanford, earned a PhD in artificial intelligence from Carnegie Mellon, and wrote a novel along the way. You get the sense he was never interested in choosing between being technical and being imaginative.
At X, where he serves as Captain of Moonshots, Astro has led a culture not just of invention but of deep permission. Permission to fail. Permission to take risks. Permission to kill your own project before it becomes someone else’s problem. In a world that often prizes optimization, Astro invites his teams to work on problems so massive and weird they defy conventional business logic. Self-driving cars. Internet balloons. AI-powered microscopes. “We’re not here to make toys,” he once told me. “We’re here to solve ten-billion-dollar problems with science fiction-sounding solutions.”
And yet, he is not grandiose. The Astro I know is light-hearted, curious, and deeply collaborative. During our conversation, we spoke as we always have. We moved from technical ideas to philosophy to a kind of wonder at how the world works. He brings to his work a playfulness that belies the seriousness of the challenges he takes on. There’s a glimmer in his eye when he talks about failure. Not because he enjoys it, but because he knows it’s part of the dance.
One of the defining qualities of Astro’s leadership is his ability to make boldness feel safe. He does not demand perfection or certainty. He wants momentum. He wants people to try things that feel just out of reach. He has built a space where taking a swing at the impossible is not just allowed but expected. That is no small feat, especially inside one of the world’s largest companies.
When I photographed him, we found a quiet spot at X. His posture was relaxed, one hand on his face in thought, the other resting on his knee. The black-and-white portrait captures a moment of calm in a life spent chasing possibility. You can see the years of thinking, risk-taking, and encouraging others to leap. You can see the ease of someone who has made peace with uncertainty and found joy in the not-knowing.
For nearly twenty years, I’ve watched Astro help shape a future that often feels pulled from the pages of a novel. But the truth is, it has never been about gadgets or headlines. It has always been about building a culture where imagination is honored and ambition is not something to apologize for. In that way, Astro Teller has not just led moonshots. He has made room for the rest of us to believe in them too.
