BUSAN, South Korea — The chief executive of Firefly Aerospace has left the company amid reports that the company was investigating an alleged inappropriate relationship.
Soon statement On July 17, Firefly announced that Bill Weber was no longer the CEO of the lunar launch and landing company. The statement did not reveal the reason for his departure or whether Weber resigned or was fired.
The announcement came two days after Payload reported that The company was investigating allegations that Weber had an “inappropriate relationship” with a company employee. Firefly said at the time that it was aware of the allegations and was investigating them, but had no further comment.
Weber He took over as CEO in September 2022Previously, he was President and CEO of KeyW Corporation, a cyberspace operations and geospatial intelligence company serving the national security community.
Weber took over as CEO after AE Industrial Partners acquired a majority stake in the company earlier that year. He replaced Tom Markusic, a co-founder of the company who led the company through a previous bankruptcy and restructuring by Max Polyakov, a Ukrainian businessman.
Firefly said Peter Schumacher, a member of Firefly’s board of directors, will serve as interim CEO while the company conducts a search for a permanent replacement. Schumacher served in the same role in 2022 after Markusic’s departure and before Weber was hired.
The change in leadership comes two weeks later Firefly successfully launched a set of NASA-sponsored cubesats on its Alpha rocket. The company then said it planned three more launches this year, with the next one being a “dedicated commercial mission” for Lockheed Martin.
Firefly is also preparing to launch its first lunar lander, Blue Ghost, for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. During a briefing on July 17, NASA said the launch was expected to occur in the fourth quarter of this year.
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(tags to translate)Firefly Aerospace
