Former NASA official joins SpaceX for Starship project.
Kathy Leuders, former NASA associate administrator of the Space Operations Mission Directorate, has joined SpaceX as general manager at the company's "Starbase" facility in Texas. Leuders, who retired from NASA at the end of April, will report directly to SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell. Her hiring is seen as a key move for SpaceX as it aims to make its Starship rocket safe for human spaceflight. Leuders is already familiar with the company's human spaceflight work, having overseen the culmination of NASA's Commercial Crew program, including the first SpaceX missions to carry NASA astronauts.