Intuitive Machines

Stephen Altemus earned a BS in aeronautical engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and an MS in engineering management from the University of Central Florida. He joined NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the Space Shuttle Program in 1989, and spent a long NASA career at Johnson Space Center, serving as Director of Engineering from 2006 to 2012 and then briefly as Deputy Director of the center. He co-founded Intuitive Machines in 2013 with Tim Crain and Kam Ghaffarian and serves as president and CEO, leading the company to the first commercial soft landing on the Moon with its IM-1 mission in 2024.

Kam Ghaffarian is an engineer and serial entrepreneur who co-founded Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies (SGT) in 1994, building it into NASA's second-largest engineering services contractor before its 2018 acquisition by KBR for $355 million. A prolific deep-tech founder, he also co-founded Axiom Space and advanced-nuclear company X-energy, and runs the innovation and investment firm IBX. He co-founded Intuitive Machines in 2013 with Stephen Altemus and Tim Crain, and serves as its executive chairman.

Tim Crain earned a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. He began his career that year at NASA's Johnson Space Center as a lead engineer in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, spending 13 years at NASA, where he worked on navigation design for the Mars Science Laboratory and served as the orbit guidance, navigation, and control system manager for the Orion spacecraft. He co-founded Intuitive Machines in 2013 with Stephen Altemus and Kam Ghaffarian and serves as CTO, leading development of the Nova-C lunar lander.