Relativity Space

By January 2026, Relativity is integrating first- and second-stage hardware, continuing Aeon engine test campaigns, and advancing major launch equipment at LC-16 ahead of first flight.

In June 2026 Relativity reports its first flight-ready Terran R second stage has finished subsystem integration (fluid systems, brackets, harnesses, valves, raceways) and is being readied for transfer to NASA's Stennis Space Center for testing. The first-stage qualification article is structurally complete and entering test while the flight article advances through tank and thrust-structure integration. The Horizontal Integration Facility at LC-16 is now structurally complete with a 99.8-tonne cleanroom bridge crane installed, and Relativity produced 1,455 flight parts in May alone, with backlog at roughly $3B.

On June 17, 2026 NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announces a public-private partnership in which Relativity will privately develop a Mars orbiter mission: NASA supplies the Aeolus atmospheric-science instrument suite (four instruments built and integrated at NASA Ames), while Relativity provides the spacecraft, its Terran R rocket, and cruise operations, targeting a 2028 launch. The award gives Relativity a high-profile commercial-science role ahead of Terran R's debut.

On July 7, 2026 the U.S. Space Force added Relativity Federal — alongside orbital-transfer-vehicle developer Impulse Space — to the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 on-ramp, making Relativity eligible to compete for task orders covering lower-priority, higher-risk-tolerant national-security launches, with Space Systems Command obligating $10 million at award. The addition brings the Lane 1 pool to seven vendors (joining SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab and Stoke Space) and gives Relativity a national-security launch path as Terran R nears its debut.

In a mid-July 2026 program update, Relativity reported that its first flight-ready Terran R second stage arrived safely at NASA's Stennis Space Center for testing and that all vehicle structures and closeouts were completed on the first-stage qualification article, transitioning it from manufacturing into factory (structural load) testing. Acceptance testing was completed for all of the Flight 1 Aeon R first-stage engines, while at Launch Complex 16 the water-farm tanks were installed and the liquid-oxygen farm activated as the pad approaches its final configuration — keeping Relativity on track for a Terran R maiden flight targeted by the end of 2026.

Relativity completes Terran R's vehicle-level critical design review and begins building first-flight hardware across stages, engines, avionics, and software.

SES expands its multi-launch agreement with Relativity, adding to a Terran R backlog that now spans more than a dozen customers and exceeds $2.9 billion.

Terran 1 becomes the first 3D-printed rocket to reach space and serves as the company's pathfinder vehicle before retirement.

Relativity reshapes Terran R around the medium-to-heavy launch market, prioritizing a reusable architecture sized for constellation, commercial, and government missions.

Relativity closes a $140M Series C round led by Bond and Tribe Capital as it scales Terran 1 development and expands launch infrastructure.

Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone found Relativity Space with the vision of 3D-printing entire rockets.