The brand new chief at Axiom Area is a well-recognized face across the workplace. On Friday, the Houston-based firm introduced that its Chief Income Officer, Tejpaul Bhatia, is taking the reins as the brand new Chief Government Officer.
Bhatia takes over the place from Kam Ghaffarian, the Government Chairman and co-founder of Axiom Area, who has been serving as interim CEO since Aug. 9, 2024. That’s when co-founder Mike Suffredini introduced he would step down as CEO “for private causes,” however proceed on as a board member.
“I’ve been impressed by house exploration since childhood, and main Axiom Area at this vital inflection level in human spaceflight is the conclusion of a lifelong ambition,” Bhatia stated in an announcement. “We’re accelerating our funding in next-generation applied sciences — spacesuits, orbital infrastructure, and microgravity analysis and manufacturing — and we’re actively in search of passionate, visionary engineers, technologists, and entrepreneurs who need to assist construct humanity’s future in house.”
Bhatia joined Axiom Area in July 2021 after coming from a three-year stint at Google the place he labored as a Startup Ecosystem Supervisor after which helped handle the corporate’s transition from distant work to a return to the workplace following the pandemic.
Axiom Area stated in an announcement that he was pivotal in overseeing the reception of Personal Astronaut Missions to the Worldwide Area Station from Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1) via Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), which is because of launch in late Might.
“Axiom Area was based to broaden the boundaries of what’s potential in house, and Tej has been instrumental in turning that imaginative and prescient right into a actuality,” Ghaffarian stated. “His mix of entrepreneurial drive, world perspective, and deep dedication to our mission will guarantee Axiom Area’s management on the forefront of the quickly rising business house market.”
The shift in management comes at an exceedingly necessary time for the corporate. Axiom Area is one in all 4 firms competing for a process order from NASA as a part of the company’s Business Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Improvement Program (CLDP).
The corporate first acquired a firm-fixed value, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract valued at $140 million again in 2020 to assist the event of a habitation module, dubbed Habitat 1 or AxH1, that might connect to the ISS as a part of creating a future, impartial house station.
That first module would permit them to progressively construct out the Axiom Station previous to separating from the ISS. On Dec. 18, 2024, Axiom Area, in coordination with NASA introduced that it was altering its meeting sequence.
As an alternative of the primary module being AxH1, it will now launch the Payload, Energy, and Thermal Module (AxPPTM), which might be adopted by AxH1, an airlock, then Habitat 2 and eventually the Analysis and Manufacturing Facility (AxRMF), which incorporates the Earth Observatory attachment.
The restructuring of the meeting order will permit the Axiom Station to depart the ISS earlier, clearing the best way for the arrival of the U.S. Deorbit Automobile (being created by SpaceX) and the tip of lifetime of the orbiting outpost no sooner than 2030.
“We had been able to reply the decision when NASA requested us to relook at our house station improvement plan,” stated Mark Greeley, Axiom Area Chief Working Officer and Axiom Station program supervisor, again in December. “Our ongoing evaluation of the meeting sequence revealed alternatives for flexibility and enhancements. With the Worldwide Area Station needing to guard for the flexibility to accommodate a Deorbit Automobile on station, we had been capable of speed up this work to assist this system’s necessities.”
Earlier this month, Axiom Area introduced the completion of the primary simulated mission for the AxPPTM, which demonstrated a docking with the ISS. The AxPPTM is anticipated to launch and dock with the ISS in 2027.
🚀 Step into the way forward for house with #KBR!#SpaceSymposium has formally kicked off in Colorado Springs, and we’re tremendous excited to showcase the revolutionary #AxEMU spacesuit at our sales space!
The AxEMU spacesuit is designed with superior capabilities for lunar exploration,… pic.twitter.com/9VsgUQi0d6
— KBR (@KBRincorporated) April 8, 2025
Past working towards the corporate’s house station ambitions, Bhatia will proceed to be concerned within the improvement of spacesuits for the Artemis Program.
Throughout his greater than three-year profession at Axiom Area, the corporate stated he “oversaw high-impact, cross-industry collaborations, equivalent to partnering with Prada on NASA-awarded, next-generation spacesuits for the Artemis III lunar mission, and with Nokia to combine high-speed mobile connectivity into the lunar exploration spacesuits.”
Axiom Area can even bid for the fifth and sixth Personal Astronaut Missions to the ISS, that are focused for launch in 2026 and 2027. It has at the least one different competitor within the business house station area — Huge, one other house habitation firm, which is working in the direction of its personal business house station ambitions.
