Astronomy Prints 🌌: Editor's Choice: C-suite turnover

08/19/2026

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By Dan Robitzski

Two notable space companies, both of which have faced some turbulence in the past year, named new executives.

First, what appears to be a stabilizing move in the long run: United Launch Alliance named Mark Peller as its new CEO.

Peller had been working as the chief operating officer of the company, and now succeeds interim CEO John Elbon. Elbon was expected to retire with Peller succeeding him — for the COO role — back in December. But when ULA's CEO at the time Tory Bruno abruptly left the company for a role at Blue Origin, Elbon stuck around as CEO.

ULA selected Peller to be chief executive after a “months-long process” that considered both internal and external candidates, Kay Sears, a Boeing executive who serves on the ULA board, said in the company's announcement. “Mark’s background, coupled with his extensive knowledge of both ULA’s business and technical offerings, makes him the best candidate to fill the CEO position,” she said.

Second, a CEO ousting after reportedly inappropriate conduct: L3Harris CEO and board chairman Christopher Kubasik stepped down from his roles, and will be replaced as CEO by Sam Mehta.

As SpaceNews' Sandra Erwin reported, L3Harris said its board acted after an investigation found conduct by Kubasik that was inconsistent with the company’s code of conduct. The company said the matter was unrelated to financial reporting, controls, customer relationships or operational performance.

The company did not specify beyond that. However, Semafor reported that, according to two sources briefed on the probe, Kubasik "engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an employee." That's a similar explanation to the reason for his departure from Lockheed Martin in 2012, when Kubasik was positioned to become CEO of that company.

Mehta joined L3Harris in 2023 to lead its communications business and was named president of Space & Mission Systems at the beginning of this year. His responsibilities later expanded to include Communications & Spectrum Dominance. Together, the two segments account for more than 80% of L3Harris revenue. Lauren Barnes, who had been president of Spectrum Superiority, was named president of Space & Mission Systems, while Christopher Aebli, previously president of Mission Critical Communications, will lead Communications & Spectrum Dominance.

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SIGNIFICANT DIGIT

44

The number of missions per year expected to launch from Wallops Island, Virginia, according to projections from NASA's Office of Inspector General — up from the 17 launches in 2025.

An image released by Katalyst Space Technologies showing a deployed solar panel on its Link spacecraft, launched July 3. Credit: Katalyst Space Technologies

LINK UPDATES

Katalyst Space, the company that built a grappling spacecraft that was trying to boost the orbit of a NASA observatory before it's destroyed upon reentry, has jointly called off its mission with NASA, according to an Aug. 20 announcement. The company cited "ongoing attitude control issues" but did not elaborate further.

Not long after its July launch, Katalyst's Link spacecraft faced technical issues that put it into a multi-axis spin. Katalyst recently said Aug. 9 that it managed to slow that spin, and still intended to set the rescue mission back on track.

“LINK was spinning at approximately 9 degrees per second when recovery operations began,” the company said in a social media post at the time. “The team has since reduced the spacecraft’s body rate to 1.47 degrees per second, where it will remain while the team prepares for the next phase of the mission.”

The challenge, the company said Aug. 9, was slowing down the spin while conserving enough fuel to complete the mission, which would have involved approaching NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, identifying and engaging a target for grappling, and boosting its orbit.

Even with reboosting out of the equation, Link will still perform rendezvous and proximity operations in the vicinity of Swift.

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