Stoke Space

Stoke extends its previously announced Series D round to $860 million, bringing total capital raised to $1.34 billion as it pushes Nova toward market entry.

Stoke begins testing flight-configuration Zenith full-flow staged-combustion first-stage engines, including gimbal and turbomachinery campaigns, as it builds up to Nova's first orbital flight.

In early June 2026 Stoke completes proto-qualification of Nova's first stage at its Moses Lake, Washington test site, clearing 46 structural verification tests of the seven-Zenith-engine flight article plus fluid-system, avionics, and ground-support testing over a roughly three-week campaign. The stage was pressurized above maximum expected operating conditions with automated pressure control across fill levels, and held up through hurricane-force winds and lightning — a major step toward Nova's first orbital flight.

On July 6, 2026 Stoke Space announced NASA had selected it for a collaboration to advance the upper-stage re-entry capabilities of Nova. Awarded through NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate under an Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity, the partnership pairs Stoke with NASA's Ames Research Center on entry, descent, and landing (EDL) technologies for Nova's reusable second stage, drawing on Ames' hypervelocity free-flight test capabilities plus the agency's aerodynamics and guidance, navigation and control expertise. It builds on a 2020 SBIR award that seeded Stoke's Stage 2 Andromeda integrated engine and regeneratively cooled re-entry heat shield.

In early July 2026 Stoke Space appointed former OpenAI chief product officer Kevin Weil to its board of directors as Nova nears its first flight. Weil — who first met CEO Andy Lapsa when Stoke joined Y Combinator's Winter 2020 batch and who, with his wife Elizabeth, was an early Stoke investor through their Scribble Ventures fund — adds high-profile technology and product-scaling experience to the board of the reusable-rocket startup.

By July 2026 Stoke's rebuild of the historic Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral is essentially complete and appears ready for operations, with the umbilical tower painted a vibrant red as a tribute to the early Space Coast era. The activated pad, paired with Nova's first stage having cleared proto-qualification, positions Stoke for Nova's inaugural orbital flight, targeted no earlier than late 2026.

Stoke raises $260 million in new investment to accelerate Nova development, scaling, and launch preparation.

The U.S. Space Force selects Stoke to compete for up to $5.6 billion in national-security launch task orders and awards an initial task order for capabilities assessment and tailored mission assurance.

After completing the environmental assessment, Stoke secures the license to develop and operate Space Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral and begins rebuilding the historic pad for Nova.

The company completes the first successful hotfire of its full-flow staged-combustion Zenith engine, the propulsion system for Nova's first stage.

Stoke flies its full-scale reusable upper-stage prototype, demonstrating vertical takeoff, differential-thrust steering, and propulsive landing.

Andy Lapsa and Tom Feldman, both former Blue Origin engineers, found Stoke Space to build a fully reusable rocket.