Axiom Space's Rocky Road to Success

Axiom Space, a NASA commercial partner, has been facing severe financial headwinds. Founded by billionaire Kam Ghaffarian and NASA executive Mike Suffredini in 2016, the company has struggled to raise funds and has had difficulties meeting its payroll since early 2023. The Houston-based company has also fallen behind on payments to key suppliers, including Thales Alenia Space for its space station and SpaceX for crewed launches. The financial struggles of Axiom Space can be attributed to its rapid hiring spree, which led to a payroll of nearly 1,000 employees. This, combined with a lack of fresh capital, has exacerbated the company's financial challenges. Sources close to the company have revealed that CEO Michael Suffredini, who spent 30 years at NASA, ran Axiom like a government program instead of a resource-constrained startup. This led to a lack of focus on product development, leaving new engineers with nothing to do. Axiom Space's primary goal is to build a successor to the International Space Station. However, the company has faced numerous delays and has downsized its plans from a four-module station to a smaller two-module station. This change has reduced the station's power and commercial potential. The company's financial struggles have also affected its ability to deliver on its other key commercial programs, including the development of spacesuits for NASA's Artemis Program. Axiom is due to pay $670 million to SpaceX for four Crew Dragon missions, each of which includes a launch and ride for four astronauts to and from the station. This equates to $167. 5 million per launch, or $41. 9 million per seat.