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The countdown to launch has begun for a small Washington state company developing something long dreamed of in the space industry.
Andy Lapsa, co-founder and CEO of Stoke Space, a standout in the state's burgeoning space technology industry, calls it "this Holy Grail of rocketry, which is fully, rapidly reusable rockets."
At Stoke's newly built headquarters in Kent, engineers and technicians are assembling the giant barrel-shaped sections of a rocket and two very different engines designed to make not just the booster but the upper stage of the spacecraft reusable.
The goal is a rocket capable of launching into orbit, returning to Earth and then lifting off again almost daily.
This would provide transformative cost savings and access that could open up space for commercial expansion and accelerate further innovation.
Kelly Hennig, Stoke's chief operating officer, said the initial rocket launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral is planned toward the end of next year, though that one will be expendable, not reused.
Stoke is designing and building its rocket in Kent and test firing engine prototypes at Moses Lake in Central Washington.
There, on 75 sprawling acres of sagebrush desert, tall white fuel tanks containing liquid hydrogen, oxygen or liquid natural gas rise like pillars around a set of intricately designed test facilities.
Those include a test stand for the booster-stage engine, rising above a 60-foot-deep flame trench where the first hotfire engine test is scheduled for later this month.
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