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Andy Lapsa speaks at the Space Economy Summit in November 2025.<\/p>\n
Credit:
\n The Economist Group<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\u201cIt was a huge question in my head: Does the world really need a 151st rocket company?\u201d he said. \u201cAnd in order for me to say yes to that question, I had to very systematically go through all the other players, thinking about the economics of launch, about the business plan, about the evolution of these companies over time. It was very non-intuitive to me to start another launch company.\u201d<\/p>\n
,<\/p>\n
So why did he do it?<\/p>\n
I traveled to Florida in November to answer this question and to see if the world\u2019s 151st rocket company had any chance of success.<\/p>\n
Launch Complex 14<\/h2>\n
It takes a long time to build a launch site. Probably longer than you might think.<\/p>\n
Lapsa and Feldman spent much of 2020 working on the basic design of a rocket that would eventually be named Nova and deciding whether they could build a business around it. In December of that year, they closed their seed round of funding, raising $9.1 million. After this, finding somewhere to launch from became a priority.<\/p>\n
They zeroed in on Cape Canaveral because it\u2019s where the majority of US launch companies and customers are, as well as the talent to assemble and launch rockets. They learned in 2021 that the US Space Force was planning to lease an old pad, Space Launch Complex 14, to a commercial company. This was not just a good location to launch from; it was truly a historic location\u2014John Glenn launched into orbit from here in 1962 aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft. It was retired in 1967 and designated a National Historic Landmark.<\/p>\n
But in recent years, the Space Force has sought to support the flourishing US commercial space industry, and it has offered Launch Complex 14. After the competition opened in 2021, Stoke Space won the lease a year later. Then began the long and arduous process of conducting an Environmental Assessment. It took nearly two years, and it was not until October 20, 2024, that Stoke was allowed to break ground.<\/p>\n
None of the structures on the site were usable, and aside from the historic blockhouse dating to the Mercury program, everything else had to be demolished and cleared before work could begin.<\/p>\n
As we walked the large ring encompassing the site, Lapsa explained that all of the tanks and major hardware needed to support a Nova launch were now on site. There is a large launch tower, as well as a launch mount upon which the rocket will be stood up. The company has mostly turned toward integrating all of the ground infrastructure and wiring up the site. A nearby building to assemble rockets and process payloads is well underway.<\/p>\n
,<\/p>\n
Lapsa seemed mostly relieved. \u201cA year ago, this was my biggest concern,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He need not have worried. A few months before the company completed its environmental permitting, a tall, lanky, thickly bearded engineer named Jonathan Lund hired on. A Stanford graduate who got his start with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Lund worked at SpaceX during the second half of the 2010s, helping to lead the reconstruction of one launch pad, the crew tower project at Launch Complex 39A, and a pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base. He also worked on multiple landing sites for the Falcon 9 rocket. Lund arrived to lead the development of Stoke\u2019s site.<\/p>\n
This is Lund\u2019s fifth launch pad. Each one presents different challenges. In Florida, for example, the water table lies only a few feet below the ground. But for most rockets, including Nova, a large trench must be dug to allow flames from the rocket engines to be carried away from the vehicle at ignition and liftoff. As we stood in this massive flame diverter, there were a few indications of water seeping in.<\/p>\n
Still, the company recently completed a major milestone by testing the water suppression system, which dampens the energy of a rocket at liftoff to protect the launch pad. Essentially, the plume from the rocket\u2019s engines flows downward where it meets a sheet of water, turning it into steam. This creates an insulating barrier of sorts.<\/p>\n