Kathy Lueders joins SpaceX Starbase team after NASA retirement

According to CNBC, former NASA assistant associate administrator Kathy Lueders is now working for SpaceX. She will now work at the company’s Starbase facility managing something related to SpaceX’s Starship program.

Lueders and SpaceX are very much not strangers

During her time at NASA, Lueders helped manage many of NASA’s recent commercial ventures in some capacity. That relationship started as the Commercial Resupply Services contract manager with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences (now Northrop Grumman). That program was so successful that NASA moved on and created the Commercial Crew Program, which Lueders also managed.

Lueders was there when SpaceX launched Demo-2, the first crewed flight of a Falcon 9 and the return to human spaceflight from the US since the retirement of the Space Shuttle. (This was also around the time I met Zac and joined Space Explored) After the success of the CCP with SpaceX, Boeing will get there soon enough, Lueders moved on up to take over the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate.

According to CNBC, Lueders is joining SpaceX and reportedly holding the title of General Manager down at Starbase, Texas. She will report to SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell, who directly oversees the Starship development program. Lueders expertise in developing systems is a great win for SpaceX which is now moving Starship from the scrappy “backyard” development project to a full-scale commercial launcher.

Not the first former NASA employee to join the X

It’s not uncommon for employees to move between the public and private sectors, but it seems much more notable in the space industry. Not to forget the revolving door of employees moving between private companies continuously. It doesn’t matter where you go, every company seems to have former SpaceXers, NASA, JPL, or whatever company you’re thinking of, working there.

When Lueders assumed the role of Associate Administrator of Human Exploration and Operations, she took over from Bill Gerstenmaier. This shuttle engineer moved on up to head the same mission directorate. Gerstenmaier also took a position at SpaceX, first as a consultant, then full-time as the company’s Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability.

The federal government has placed restrictions on civil servants when they “switch sides” and move from government work to the private sector. Primarily, former government employees cannot meet or communicate with former teams on official business with the new company.

Employment changes also go the other way. Anil Menon, a member of the Astronaut Group 23 (class of 2022), was SpaceX’s Medical Director and flight surgeon. He worked on the first four crewed missions of the Crew Dragon spacecraft, Demo-2, Crew-1, Crew-2, and Inspiration 4. He is now undergoing training to become a NASA astronaut.