The leader of Millennium Space Systems, which makes satellites for Boeing, has suddenly departed the company after roughly four years in charge.
TechCrunch reported this week that Jason Kim has left the company, leaving it with a hole at its CEO position.
The company was acquired by Boeing back in 2018. Since then, it’s been able to land huge contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense for satellites that it will build to help warfighters track threats such as missiles.
In addition, the company successfully executed what’s known as a “responsive space” mission for U.S. Space Force. The mission, referred to as Victus Nox, was executed to try to set a new record for how long it takes to place a defense payload into orbit.
Partnering with Firefly Space for the mission, Millennium accomplished the feat last September. They were able to integrate a satellite that Millennium built into a launch vehicle that Firefly built after just 58 hours. Only 37 hours after it was launched into space, the satellite was up and running.
In a statement regarding Kim’s departure, a spokesperson for Millennium said:
“We are grateful to Jason for his leadership, growing the portfolio and evolving the company to a workforce of nearly 1,000, and wish him the best in the next phase of his career. We anticipate announcing a CEO in the near term who can carry forward Millennium Space Systems’ spirit and culture of rapid delivery.
“Millennium Space Systems’ mission has not changed, and the team continues their unwavering focus on customer commitments.”
Kim was not one of the founders of the company. He was appointed as its CEO about two years after Boeing acquired it. Before Kim took over the position, the company was led by CEO Stan Dubyn, who was the founder of the company, for 17 years.
Before becoming CEO of Millennium Space Systems, Kim served in different leadership positions with Northrop Grumman and with the space division at Raytheon. He previously served in the U.S. Air Force.
Kim’s departure comes when Boeing is facing a lot of uncertainty with its company overall, but specifically in its space business.
The company has been front and center since its Starliner mission got bungled. Not long before it docked at the International Space Station, the spacecraft experienced some technical problems.
That led officials with NASA to decide that Starliner had to return to Earth without carrying any astronauts onboard.
It’s not clear at this point why Kim has departed Millennium Space Systems.
Firefly also has a vacancy at its helm as well, ever since its former CEO Bill Weber left only a few days after a report was published by Payload Space that alleged the company was investigating him for an inappropriate relationship with a female employee.
That incident was reported to the company’s board by Lloyd McMuller, the company’s vice president of IT, who resigned in July after losing confidence in the company.
