Dr. Amela Wilson has been named as Nanoracks’ new Chief Executive Officer. Jeffrey Manber, the company’s former CEO, and co-founder is going to join Voyager Space as the President in charge of International and Space Stations while continuing to serve as Chairperson of the Board at Nanoracks.

Voyager and Nanoracks announced cooperation with Lockheed Martin to create Starlab, which is a commercial space station, just a few weeks before the leadership transition. Nanoracks is going to be the prime contractor, with Voyager in charge of strategy and investment and the Lockheed as technical integrator and manufacturer.

“Nanoracks has always remained one step ahead of what’s feasible in commercial space. I see a potential to further strengthen this position,” Matthew Kuta, who works as the COO and President of Voyager Space, stated of the appointment. Today, we are on the cusp of the next frontier in space exploration, and I believe Amela’s demonstrated experience and adept organizational leadership is exactly what Nanoracks needs to take the next step.”

“In my new job, I will help both Voyager and Nanoracks in introducing commercially viable space platforms into the LEO environment, including human dwellings like Starlab and autonomous systems we call Outposts,” said Jeffrey Manber, President of International and Space Stations at Voyager Space. In addition, across the Voyager portfolio, I will be focused on facilitating new international prospects and fields of collaboration. International space collaboration is vital to realizing a meaningful commercial in-space industry, and it’s a topic on which I’ve been working for decades.”

Amela was most recently General Manager and Senior Vice President at Mercury Systems Company, where she was in charge of five corporate locations and approximately 500 workers. She was previously vice president and general manager of FLIR Systems’ Surveillance division and vice president and general manager of Elbit Systems of America’s Sensors and Fire Control Systems Solutions division.

“I’m ecstatic to be joining the Nanoracks team at such a critical juncture in the company’s history,” Wilson said. Nanoracks has smashed barriers and established the route of the commercial space access in a manner that no other organization has been able to do. I’m excited to get started and build on the hard work that this excellent organization has already done.”

Amela’s hiring is the latest in a series of personnel changes at Nanoracks. Marshall Smith, who is the ex-Deputy Associate Administrator (DAA) for the NASA’s Systems Engineering and Integration (SE&I), Human Exploration and Operations (HEO), has recently joined Nanoracks as Senior Vice President in charge of the Commercial Space Systems in the company’s newly opened Huntsville, Alabama office.

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