On the heels of a successful private space mission and a significant funding round, Houston-based Axiom Space hired a new CFO with a background in space infrastructure.
Mike Lungariello was named to the CFO post, Axiom said Nov. 14. He previously served as executive vice president and CFO at Maryland-based Quantum Space, another space company founded by Axiom Space co-founder Kam Ghaffarian. Axiom Space confirmed to Houston Inno that Lungariello is starting immediately.
Lungariello also spent 10 years at Voyager Aviation, a Dublin-based aircraft investment firm, where he held the roles of president, CEO and CFO.
The company also confirmed that Lungariello is succeeding West Griffin in the CFO role. Griffin held the role from 2021 until June 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
"Mike's impressive track record in aerospace finance makes him the perfect addition to our executive team," Michael Suffredini, CEO of Axiom Space, said in a statement. "His deep understanding of capital markets and strategic finance will be invaluable as Axiom Space forges the development of commercial space in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and beyond."
Lungariello’s hiring follows Axiom closing Texas’ largest funding round of the third quarter. In August, Saudi Arabia-based Aljazira Capital and South Korea-based firm Boryung Ltd. led a $350 million Series C round to take Axiom Space to $505 million in total capital. Pitchbook data shows that among private space companies, only California-based SpaceX has raised more.
Axiom is moving forward on its strategy of building out low-Earth-orbit facilities to serve manufacturing, research and tourism. Its most prominent planned project is the Axiom Station, a space station that will complement and eventually replace the International Space Station following the latter’s retirement in 2030. Axiom Space is currently building out a manufacturing facility at the Houston Spaceport that will produce the Axiom Station and train astronauts.
While it prepares for the Axiom Station, the company is also launching private space missions as part of an agreement with SpaceX. In 2023, Axiom successfully completed Axiom Mission 2, which was notable due to the mission’s partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s space agency.
Axiom Mission 3 is slated to launch no earlier than January 2024, Axiom Space said last month. The European Space Agency signed a partnership agreement that will see European astronauts join Axiom Mission 3, which will head to the ISS.
Other aspects of the company’s financial strategy that Lungariello will oversee include its contract business, especially as NASA ramps up its own activity. The space agency awarded Axiom Space a $228.5 million contract last year to produce a spacesuit, which the company unveiled this year as the AxEMU.
NASA later tapped Axiom and Collins Aerospace, another Spaceport tenant, to further develop spacesuit designs capable of walking on the moon’s surface as part of its Artemis III lunar mission plan.
Houston space leaders highlighted Axiom’s missions and Spaceport HQ as wins for the city’s space industry during a recent Greater Houston Partnership event. Besides Axiom and Collins, Houston-based Intuitive Machines (Nasdaq: LUNR) is another anchor tenant at the Spaceport, where it recently opened a $40 million production center that will manufacture the company’s lunar lander modules.
Mario Diaz, director of the Houston Airport System, said space industry ecosystems around the country taught Houston lessons in attracting private space investment.
