WASHINGTON — Commercial space station developer Axiom Space has replaced its chief executive after less than six months on the job.
The Houston-based company announced Oct. 15 that it hired Jonathan Cirtain as president and chief executive, a move it described as a “strategic leadership change to advance the company’s development of critical space infrastructure.”
Cirtain replaces Tejpaul Bhatia, who was named chief executive April 25. Bhatia joined Axiom as chief revenue officer in 2021 and was promoted to CEO after helping secure more than $1 billion in contracts, including the company’s series of private astronaut missions to the International Space Station.
Cirtain is an astrophysicist who spent nearly a decade at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and later joined BWX Technologies, a company specializing in nuclear technologies. He held several senior positions there, including chief technology officer and senior vice president. He left in May to become president of IBX, an investment firm whose portfolio includes Axiom Space.
According to Cirtain’s LinkedIn profile, he was named president of Axiom Space in June, but the company did not publicly announce the appointment at the time.
“His proven track record of leadership and commitment to excellence align perfectly with our mission of building era-defining space infrastructure that will drive exploration and fuel the global space economy,” Kam Ghaffarian, executive chairman of Axiom Space and founder of IBX, said in a statement.
That infrastructure includes a commercial space station Axiom is developing, beginning with a module scheduled to launch in late 2027 and attach to the ISS. Axiom announced Sept. 25 that it awarded a contract to Redwire Space for the solar arrays for that module.
Axiom is also developing a spacesuit that NASA plans to use on Artemis lunar landing missions. The company intends to adapt the suit for use in low Earth orbit, including on its future space station.
“The next man and first woman to walk on the moon will be in an Axiom Space spacesuit, and we are building a commercial space station, what a mission and a company,” Cirtain said in a social media post. “It is an amazing engineering organization, and I am honored to serve as CEO.”
The leadership change came as a surprise outside the company, as Bhatia had been actively representing Axiom as recently as two weeks ago at the International Astronautical Congress, where he signed agreements such as an extension of a memorandum of understanding with the U.K. Space Agency for a potential British private astronaut mission.
He has not commented publicly on the change, and his LinkedIn profile now lists him as an “executive, entrepreneur, investor” who most recently served as Axiom’s chief executive.
“I also want to extend my sincere gratitude to Tejpaul Bhatia for his years of service to Axiom Space, as well as his contributions during his tenure as CEO, steering the company through a significant transition period,” Ghaffarian said.