Kent, Wash.-based Stoke Space says it’s won the go-ahead to take over the Florida launch complex where John Glenn began the trip that made him the first American in orbit in 1962.
That’s the upshot of the U.S. Space Force’s decision on Tuesday to allocate Space Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to Stoke Space for use as a launch operations center.
“We are over the moon excited by this opportunity,” Julia Black, Stoke Space’s director of launch operations, said in a news release. “To be trusted with the reactivation of the historic Launch Complex 14 is an honor, and we look forward to adding to its well-distinguished accomplishments for America’s space program.”
Space Launch Delta 45, which manages Cape Canaveral’s launch facilities, said the allocation is part of a new Space Force strategy to maximize the use of excess launch property and the Eastern Range extending from the Florida Coast.
This first round of pad allocations focused on small-class launch vehicles, and Stoke Space wasn’t the only beneficiary. Launch Complex 15, which supported the Titan missile program from 1959 to 1964, went to ABL Space Systems. Phantom Space and Vaya Space will use Launch Complex 13 — which played a role in early Atlas launches, and more recently in SpaceX rocket landings.
Launch Complex 14 was the site for John Glenn’s historic liftoff and for the three Mercury-Atlas missions that followed. After Mercury, it was used in support of the Gemini program — but became inactive after 1966. The site’s original blockhouse was restored and converted into a conference center and occasional tourist stop in the 1990s.
Jennifer Thompson, Stoke Space’s head of marketing, said Tuesday’s announcement came as something of a surprise. “We’re already talking about how to preserve this site and its historical significance while building it out to support the future of space,” she told GeekWire in an email.
Stoke Space CEO Andy Lapsa said “the opportunity to reactivate this site is a profound responsibility that our entire team holds in the highest regard.”
“As we bring LC-14 back to life and carry its legacy into the future, we will be sure to do so in a way that preserves its existing history and pays homage to those who came before us,” Lapsa said.
Stoke Space was founded in 2019 by Lapsa and Tom Feldman, both of whom previously worked for Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture. Their company aims to develop a fully reusable two-stage rocket, starting with the upper stage.
In addition to its 21,000-square-foot engineering and manufacturing headquarters in Kent, Stoke Space has a 75-acre rocket test facility in Moses Lake, Wash.
Rocket engine tests have been proceeding for now in Moses Lake. Upcoming technical milestones include a vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing “Hopper” flight of the upper stage, analogous to the hopper tests that SpaceX conducted for Falcon 9 rocket prototypes in 2012-2013, and for Starship prototypes in 2019-2021. Stoke Space plans to start its hopper tests in Moses Lake later this year.
Launch Complex 14 is most likely to come into play when Stoke Space is gearing up for full-up flight tests. The timetable for orbital launches hasn’t been announced — and the development of a brand-new rocket typically takes longer than anticipated.
Stoke Space’s relatively rapid rise has been fueled by a $9.1 million seed funding round, followed by a $65 million Series A funding round that was led by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures in late 2021. The company has also brought in research grants from NASA, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Air Force.
We’ve updated this report with further details about Stoke Space’s plans for rocket testing, and a fresh figure for the acreage of the company’s Moses Lake testing facility.
