Axiom Space ejects CEO after six months, installs NASA veteran as replacement
Thu 16 Oct 2025 // 12:15 UTC

Updated Axiom Space has ousted its CEO after just six months, hiring Jonathan Cirtain to replace Tejpaul Bhatia.
Cirtain, who joined Axiom in 2025 and holds a PhD in physics, will serve as both CEO and president.

Executive chairman Dr Kam Ghaffarian thanked Bhatia for his service and for "steering the company through a significant transition period."
Ghaffarian praised Cirtain's "proven track record" of leadership from his time running teams at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and in the nuclear industry.

Posting on LinkedIn, Cirtain wrote: "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."
Axiom Space has faced some turbulence over the last year or so. Former NASA International Space Station program manager Mike Suffredini stepped down as CEO in August 2024.
Ghaffarian took up the reins as interim CEO before Bhatia was appointed in April 2025.

Bhatia joined Axiom Space in 2021 and oversaw several high-profile contracts over the years, including commercial spaceflight missions.
Axiom Space's finances were called into question in 2024 when Forbes reported it had lost money on every commercial mission.
In a letter seen by The Register at the time, Ghaffarian complained that the article painted "an inaccurate picture." However, he did not call out any specific inaccuracies regarding the figures.