Voyager-Airbus JV Starlab names C-suite team to lead new space station development

As companies eye the chance to replace the International Space Station, one of the contenders has named a new C-suite team based in Houston.

Starlab Space LLC, a new joint venture between Colorado-based Voyager Space and European aerospace giant Airbus, named Tim Kopra as its CEO in mid-February. Kopra is a former NASA astronaut and an executive at Voyager.

Kopra also serves as an adviser to Greentown Labs Houston, the Somerville, Massachusetts-based climate technology incubator's local branch in Midtown.

Mohit Sharma, former head of acquisitions and finance at Airbus, joined Starlab as CFO. Marshall Smith, Voyager Space's chief technical offer, and Mohamed Denden, CFO of Airbus U.S. Space & Defense Inc., joined Starlab’s board.

"The collaboration between Voyager Space and Airbus reflects an unparalleled level of expertise, embodied by this top-notch leadership team," Kopra said in a statement. "Starlab Space is not only positioned to meet and exceed current space exploration standards but also to revolutionize the commercial space sector as a whole."

Starlab currently has 65 Houston-based employees across two facilities in Webster, the company told the Houston Business Journal. Starlab HQ is at 503 Forge River Road, and Voyager also has a facility in partnership with NASA at 218 S. Walnut St. Both locations are nearby NASA's Johnson Space Center and the agency's newly announced Exploration Park.

Starlab’s space station, also named Starlab, was announced in August 2023. The project will be developed by Houston-based Nanoracks, which is majority owned by Voyager Space. The project’s other partners include Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) and Virginia-based Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE: NOC), the latter of which is upgrading its Cygnus spacecraft to help service the space station while it is in orbit.

Value propositions for commercial space stations include the ability to perform research and manufacturing tasks while in low-Earth orbit, with applications ranging from materials manufacturing to medical technology development.

A big hurdle that all of these projects face, however, is funding, according to Mike Lungariello, who was recently appointed CFO of Houston-based Axiom Space. Axiom Space is one of the companies aiming to launch its own space station by the time the ISS is retired in 2030.

“Ultimately, Axiom Space is building an asset that creates revenue streams over time, but to do that, a company in its advanced gross stages or mid-life gross stages needs to raise a significant amount of debt and equity capital," Lungariello told the HBJ in an interview.

Starlab has currently secured over $217.5 million in grant funding from NASA as of January, the Denver Business Journal reported. The latest installment of $57.5 million came with new milestones for Starlab to hit for research, development and upgrades for the Cygnus craft.

Voyager Space raised over $80 million in January 2023 in one of Colorado’s biggest venture capital deals last year.

Besides Axiom and Starlab, another company with a commercial space station target is Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which was also funded by NASA in January along with Starlab. Blue Origin, which was once in contention to be a Houston Spaceport tenant, is partnering with Colorado-based Sierra Space for the Orbital Reef station.

Axiom Space has completed three out of four research missions to the ISS through a partnership with SpaceX. The missions were conducted in preparation for the company's Axiom Station project, which will be assembled in Houston.

Lungariello said that Axiom's completion of its second mission last year, which involved astronauts representing Saudi Arabia, paved the way for its $350 million Series C round co-led by Saudi Arabian firm Aljazira Capital. The company also recently opened the first phase of its 22-acre headquarters at the Spaceport, where it is one of three anchor tenants.