For a decade, Eric Schmidt run Google as chief executive and as a “adult” in the room, which led the Internet company’s young founders, Larry Page and Sergey Bern. In 2011, Mr. Schmidt handed over Google to Mr Page. Since then he has not taken another CEO job.
But on Monday, Mr. Schmidt told employees of the relationship, a rocket startup in Long Beach, California, that he has made a significant investment in the company and has taken control of the company, and will take over as chief executive.
Both men said that Mr. Schmidt, 69, the current Chief of Relationship Space, Timetta Alice, who is a co -founder, who will be in the Board of Directors, replaces them. It is unclear how much money Mr. Schutt has spent on startup.
Relationships are one of the crops of startups that is an angle to produce rockets, which can carry about two tonnes of two tons or less, from the orbit of the middle to orbit. Some of these companies focus on the construction of commercial pay -load – generally satellites – cheap, reusable rockets to launch – in space for a part of the cost of ligae manufacturers that use preares, disposable rockets.
The purpose will be partially to compete with the rocket maker, the dominant Elon Musk’s Space X. Relationship space has also said that he has A long -term purpose To build an industrial base on Mars.
Mr Alice, who once worked in Jeff Bezos’s rocket company, Blue Origin, founded a former Space X employee in 2016, based on a relationship with Jordan Noon, on the basis that more work could be done to reduce the cost of rocket construction, using 3-D printers, such as technologies.
According to data compiled by Pitch Bok, the company has collected about $ 4 billion estimates from investors such as Koto, Black, Bond, Sincere and Mark Cuba estimates about $ 4 billion.
In recent years, a relationship has been challenged. He started his small terrain 1 rocket once in 2023, and it failed shortly after the elevator. A month later, the relationship space announced that it would retire Tyran 1 to focus on Terren 1, a large rocket that would compete with Space X’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. Startup has gone away from focusing on the 3-D printed content and has begun to add more traditionally made parts of its rocket construction.
At the same time, the relationship space faces stiff competition. The company, which has said that it plans to launch Terran R in 2026, can face many rivals, including orbital rockets from New Glenn, Blue Origin. Wilkan through the United Launch Alliance; Neutrons by rocket lab; And a medium launch vehicle via firefly aerospace, a Texas startup that landed on the moon last week on the moon.
By the end of last year, according to the two men with information about the matter, the relationship space had difficulty raising new funds.
He said that Mr. Schmidt, who holds a pilot’s license and makes personal investment in aerospace and defense industries, including drone research and AI, increased interest in the relationship in 2024.
People said that this year, they agreed to invest in the company through their Family Office Investment Firm Hill Spire, and will continue to support the location of the relationship on the condition that they will handle daily operations. Bloomberg Reported Mr Schmidt invested in a relationship in January.
People will focus on creating operations and implementing products and manufacturing implementation, people said. He said in a meeting with employees on Monday, he expressed his passion for the project.
Despite the struggle, relative space executives have expressed confidence in the company’s progress. Is start -up Famous milestone From its Terren 1 rocket, as it was the first time when the 3-D printed rocket reached “Max-Kev”, which is when the vehicle faces severe pressure. Tiran 1 also obtained the stage separation, when the booster is used for the lift of drop from the second phase of the vehicle.
It is unclear how many results are, since the company has decided to get away from the 3-D printed content, which will eventually increase the cost of making rockets far more than expected.
Both men familiar with the company said that after the launch of Tiran 1, the relationship with consumers reached close to $ 3 billion in next launch contracts with consumers.
In 2022, before the failure of Tiran 1, the relationship space, which, in collaborating with another startup called Emplines Space, announced a brave plan to send the first private space mission to Mars.
At that time, Mr Alice admitted that the project was “edge of crazy”. He added that the mission, a launching on Terran R, could be ready in two and a half years, when Mars and the earth were properly erected. That window, at the end of 2024, passed.
