Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice departs as spaceplane nears launch

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By Joey Roulette

Jan 6 (Reuters) - Sierra Nevada Corp's space spinoff, Sierra Space, said on Monday its CEO has retired and billionaire Chairman Fatih Ozmen is filling in as interim CEO, a sudden change in leadership as the company pushes to launch its long-delayed spaceplane this year.

Sierra Space, which was spun off from Sierra Nevada Corp in 2021 and is valued at $5.3 billion, has spent roughly a decade developing Dream Chaser, a spaceplane designed to ferry cargo to and from low-Earth orbit that would compete with SpaceX's Dragon capsules.

Tom Vice had joined the company as CEO in 2021. Since then, Sierra Space has created a unit building an inflatable space station in partnership with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin that will be offered to NASA as a commercial replacement for the International Space Station. Sierra Space also received a $740 million Pentagon contract to build satellite platforms last year.

But Sierra Space has struggled to bring its oldest line of business, Dream Chaser, to bear. The spacecraft last year was due for launch on United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan rocket but was removed from the mission over development delays.

"After three and half years in the role, Tom Vice has retired as Sierra Space CEO as of the end of 2024 - we thank him for his leadership and wish him well in his retirement," a Sierra Space spokesperson said.

The company's backers include AE Industrial Partners and BlackRock. Sierra Space's $5.3 billion valuation came after a $290 million funding round in 2023 co-led by Japanese investors including MUFG Bank and Kanematsu.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru and Joey Roulette in Washington; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Jamie Freed)

((HarshitaMary.Varghese@thomsonreuters.com;))