Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is taking over as the CEO of Relativity Space, a 9-year-old rocket startup, a company spokesperson confirmed in a statement

The former Google chief executive is taking a controlling interest in Relativity Space, which aims to build low-cost, reusable rockets to compete against Elon Musk’s SpaceX and to reach Mars.

Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt is taking over as CEO of rocket startup Relativity Space, which has ambitions to reach Mars.

Schmidt announced at a company meeting that he had made a “significant investment” in the firm and taken a “controlling stake” in it, the New York Times has reported. On top of that, Schmidt plans to take the role of CEO at the company.

Eric Schmidt has acquired a control stake in Relativity Space, a Long Beach, Calif.-based rocket maker, and taken over as CEO. Why it matters: This will be Schmidt's first CEO job since leaving Google's top post more than 14 years ago,

Eric Schmidt, who was the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, is now the CEO of rocket startup Relativity Space, a company spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch. Schmidt will be replacing Relativity Space co-founder Tim Ellis in the CEO role.