The Company Building NASA's Next Space Station Says Things Are Actually Going Great Even Though It's Firing 100 Employees and Can't Pay Its Bills

Nothing to See Here

Axiom Space, the company NASA picked to develop an upcoming space station, is in full damage control after Forbes reported last week that it's in major financial trouble.

According to the report, which includes an interview with Axiom Space's billionaire CEO Kam Ghaffarian, the company had to lay off "about 100" employees, and those who remained were hit with significant pay cuts. Adding to the trouble, according to Forbes, it's having trouble paying its bills.

The company's work on a replacement for the International Space Station is years behind schedule and may not arrive until the station is retired in 2030. Investors were reportedly unimpressed with a "radically changed" design for a much smaller station that would have to sustain itself instead of first being docked to the existing space station.

Now, in an internal letter obtained by The Register, Ghaffarian attempted to reassure the company's investors by accusing Forbes of painting an "inaccurate picture" and arguing that more money is already on the way.

However, Ghaffarian stopped short of calling out any specific inaccuracies — suggesting that Axiom may indeed be in dire straits despite his sudden rosy optimism.

Optimized and Restructured

In the letter, Ghafarian argued that "our team is optimizing our organization structure," possibly hinting at further mass layoffs.

Beyond a significant cash squeeze and being many years behind schedule, Axiom Space has seen a litany of upper executives leave the company, including its co-founder and former CEO Michael Suffredini, who stepped down last month.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ghaffarian pointed the finger at the media, accusing it of "biases and agendas," according to The Register.

"We are building a bold vision for the future, and we will not be deterred," he wrote.

But whether Ghaffarian's steadfast optimism is a sign of easier days ahead for Axiom Space remains unclear.

Its current venture to sell uber-expensive seats to the ISS on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft may also not be the salvation the company needs.

"Turns out that there's not a lot of billionaires that want to set aside their life for 18 months to go train to be an astronaut for the ISS," a former Axiom executive told Forbes.

More on Axiom Space: The Company NASA's Hired to Build the Next Space Station Seems to Be in Big Trouble, and Firing 100 Employees and Unable to Pay Bills