Bridenstine joins a company with about 75 employees, founded by billionaire businessman Kam Ghaffarian, who previously founded two other space companies, Intuitive Machines and Axiom Space. Quantum Space is currently privately capitalized, having raised $80 million in Series A funding, and Bridenstine said he will be considering various opportunities to raise further capital.
The company plans to launch its first Ranger spacecraft in July 2027 to demonstrate a number of the vehicle’s propulsion capabilities. Quantum is developing some elements of the spacecraft, but sourcing others from industry, including some of its propulsion capabilities.
Happy to see Artemis soaring
While he was at NASA, Bridenstine created the Artemis Program, which represents the space agency’s efforts to return humans to the Moon in a more permanent way than Apollo. During his tenure leading NASA, Bridenstine championed commercial space as a means of reducing NASA’s costs while increasing its capabilities. He now hopes to be part of a generation of commercial space companies also doing this for the US military.
Bridenstine said he applauded efforts by NASA’s current administrator, Jared Isaacman, to increase the cadence of Artemis launches to accelerate America’s return to the Moon.
“I think it’s important, and I think he’s making the right decisions for the right reasons,” Bridenstine said of Isaacman’s initiative. “I also think it’s overdue. He talks about making sure we’re exercising our muscle memory, and that’s what we need to do. I’m super excited about the success of Artemis II. We need to benefit from the success of Artemis II.”
Although he was five years removed from NASA when Artemis II launched on April 1, with four astronauts on board, Bridenstine said he was blown away emotionally, and he felt like he was right in the thick of the action.
“I was watching the countdown, and then I saw the clock tick down to T-9:59, and I was like, oh my gosh, we’re going,” he said. “It was amazing how all of a sudden my heart just started beating rapidly, palms were sweaty, all of a sudden I was a wreck. I was just overwhelmed.”