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- SpaceX’s seventh hire, Hans Koenigsmann, said Tuesday he planned to retire as vice president.
- William Gerstenmaier, a former NASA official who joined SpaceX in 2020, will take his place.
- In a staff memo seen by CNBC, Koenigsmann said working for Elon Musk was the honor of a lifetime.
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SpaceX vice president Hans Koenigsmann, Elon Musk’s seventh hire at the company, said Tuesday he planned to retire.
He would be replaced by William Gerstenmaier, a former NASA official that joined the space company a year ago, he told staff.
In a memo to SpaceX employees in late January that was seen by CNBC, Koenigsmann said he had been thinking about retirement, and that now was the right time to pass the role on to Gerstenmaier.
Koenigsmann said he would work part-time as a technical advisor on the quality and reliability of SpaceX’s engineering. He described working for Elon Musk as the honor of a lifetime.
Gerstenmaier, who joined SpaceX in 2020, will take over the role of vice president. During his four decades at NASA, he served as the associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations – the top job for leading NASA’s human spaceflight programs – for nearly 14 years.
SpaceX didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment about Koenigsmann's retirement plans.
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Koenigsmann, a German aerospace engineer, was Musk's seventh overall hire, and fourth technical hire at the space venture. He joined in 2002, the same year that SpaceX was founded, and has been in charge of many of the company's missions and launches.
Before joining SpaceX, he studied a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and Production Technology at the University of Bremen.
In 2014, he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for his contribution to the space industry.
Koenigsmann told NASA historians in 2013 that met Musk at a rocket launch in California's Mojave desert, after which Musk came to his house to interview him because SpaceX had no office.