As Sierra Space CEO departs, $5 billion company continues to push for space plane launch.

• After serving as CEO of Sierra Space for 3½ years, Tom Vice departed the company at the end of 2024.
• Eren Ozmen will be the president while Fatih Ozmen will serve as the interim CEO.
• The Dream Chaser space plane, which was expected to launch in 2021, has not yet been released due to delays.

Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice has left the company, CNBC confirmed Monday.

Vice retired from Sierra Space on December 31, and Chairman Fatih Ozmen will serve as interim CEO, with Eren Ozmen as president.

As of the end of 2024, Tom Vice retired as Sierra Space CEO after three and a half years in the role. A spokesperson for Sierra Space thanked him for his leadership and wished him well in his retirement.

In 2021, Sierra Space, spun out of aerospace contractor Sierra Nevada Corporation, emerged as one of the most valuable private U.S. companies in the burgeoning space sector, valued at more than $5 billion. However, the company has faced challenges in launching its first mission of its reusable cargo space plane, Dream Chaser, which is crucial to establishing Sierra Space as a major player in the industry.

In 2021, Vice was appointed CEO of Sierra Space, a company spun out from SpaceX by its owners, Fatih and Eren Ozmen, with investors including General Atlantic, Coatue, BlackRock, and AE Industrial Partners. Prior to this appointment, Vice had been the CEO of Aerion Supersonic, a startup that aimed to develop high-speed business jets, which shut down in April 2021.

Despite the initial plan to debut the first Dream Chaser vehicle by 2021, the space plane, known as Tenacity, was not ready for launch by 2024, which was the scheduled time for United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket to take it to space.

NASA has awarded Dream Chaser with seven cargo missions to the International Space Station, while Sierra Space announced that Tenacity is aiming for a May launch.

After winning a $740 million Pentagon contract last year, the company has continued to develop its inflatable space station technology and has expanded into a product line of satellite buses.

During Vice's tenure, Sierra Space experienced layoffs and turnover in senior executive roles. However, in 2024, Vice frequently discussed Sierra Space's plan to go public, detailing a potential IPO timeline as late 2025.