Axiom Space has appointed Indian-origin executive Tejpaul Bhatia as its new Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Executive Chairman and Co-founder Kam Ghaffarian.
Bhatia served as Axiom’s Chief Revenue Officer for four years. He is a technology leader with over two decades of experience and has founded three investor-backed start-ups, two of which were acquired.
Since joining Axiom in 2021, Bhatia secured over $1 billion in contracts, arranged the first sovereign government purchases of private astronaut missions, and led partnerships like the spacesuit collaboration with Prada for NASA’s Artemis III mission.
The leadership change comes just weeks before the launch of an Indian astronaut, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, on Axiom’s Ax-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
Group Captain Shukla will serve as the pilot of the Ax-4 mission, marking India’s first human presence on the ISS and the country’s first space traveller in 40 years.
The Ax-4 mission will launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in 2025. The crew will spend 14 days aboard the ISS, conducting scientific experiments during their stay.
Shukla completed astronaut training at Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in 2021 and continued further training at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru upon his return to India.