SpaceX hires former NASA human spaceflight chief for Starship role

FILE PHOTO: NASA's Kathy Lueders talks about the upcoming launch of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on a second unpiloted test flight to the International Space Station during a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center, at Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. May 18, 2022. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX has tapped NASA's former human spaceflight boss Kathy Lueders to help oversee development of the company's moon and Mars rocket called Starship, a person familiar with the hire said on Monday.

Lueders, the second former NASA human spaceflight chief to retire and move to SpaceX in recent years, represents another key hire for the company as it races to develop and use Starship for landing NASA astronauts on the moon within the next decade.