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Andy Lapsa

Co-founder & CEO, Stoke Space

Search every verified Andy Lapsa interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Andy Lapsa, co-founder and CEO of Stoke Space, announced in September 2026 that the company closed a $1 billion Series E funding round, bringing its total financing to over $2 billion. In interviews following the announcement, Lapsa said the capital would be used primarily to develop a larger, 15-ton-class version of the company's Nova rocket, known as Block 2, as well as to expand manufacturing, test, and launch infrastructure to support higher flight frequency. He described the company's Pathfinder vehicle, a fully and rapidly reusable rocket with both stages designed to return to Earth, as a platform for developing the technology at a relatively low cost to iterate, with first flight planned for early next year. During a factory tour at Stoke Space's 168,000-square-foot headquarters outside Seattle, Lapsa discussed the company's approach to full reuse, including its use of a metallic heat shield cooled by liquid hydrogen for re-entry, which he contrasted with ceramic tile systems used by other vehicles. He stated that the factory could produce between seven and eight vehicles per year in its current facility and that the company aimed to build four vehicles on roughly three-month centers by the end of the following year. Lapsa also said that full rapid reuse would "take another zero off the cost structure of launch" and described it as the "last big domino to fall" before space becomes more commercially accessible.

Recent appearances

  • The Stoke Space Factory Tour with CEO Andy Lapsa

    September 24, 2026 · 📺 Arkaea Media Group

    Stoke Space’s approach to full reuse is easiest to understand when you can actually see the hardware. During an exclusive post-Series E tour of the company’s 168,000-square-foot headquarters outside Seattle, CEO Andy Lapsa walks us through the evolution of Nova—from the Hopper demonstrator that first proved Stoke’s second-stage architecture to the flight hardware now being prepared for orbital testing. Highlights: 0:00 Introduction 2:18 Hopper Demonstrator & Initial Testing 4:47 Propulsion Architecture (Zenith Engine) 8:04 Fuel Efficiency & Reusable Rocketry 9:15 Introduction to Nova Block 2…

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  • Stoke Space raises $1 billion for reusable rockets

    September 08, 2026 · 📺 CNBC Television

    Stoke Space has raised a billion dollars in a series E round co-led by Point72 Ventures and Spark Capital. CEO and co-founder Andy Lapsa says its medium lift Nova Pathfinder is preparing for first flight early next year. The company is also working on a larger 15-ton-class Nova rocket as well. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/42d859g » Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision » Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC » Watch CNBC on the go with CNBC+: https://www.cnbc.com/WatchCNBCPlus Turn to CNBC TV for the l…

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  • Stoke Space CEO Andy Lapsa on How Firm Will Deploy Billion Dollar Series E Round

    September 08, 2026 · 📺 New York Stock Exchange

    Stoke Space CEO Andy Lapsa joins Kristen Scholer on NYSE Live to discuss How Firm Will Deploy Billion Dollar Series E Round.

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  • Launch is Not Solved Yet, with Andy Lapsa (CEO, Stoke Space)

    September 08, 2026 · 📺 Arkaea Media Group

    Stoke Space was founded around a simple but radical belief: launch is not solved until rockets are fully and rapidly reusable. That thesis is now getting much bigger. Stoke has raised another $1 billion, bringing total capital raised to $2.3 billion, and is unveiling a new 15-ton-class version of Nova designed to be fully reusable. In his first sit-down interview following the announcement, Andy Lapsa joins Valley of Depth from Stoke Space’s headquarters outside Seattle. We got an exclusive first look at the company’s new plans before the news was made public, sitting down with Andy to unpac…

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  • How do you hire for ownership and get out of the way? | Andy Lapsa, CEO of Stoke Space

    July 15, 2026 · 📺 A VC, Headhunter and Trainer Walk into a Bar

    How do you build a rocket company where speed, safety, and trust all scale at once? What does it actually take to build a fully reusable launch system in today’s space industry? Not in theory. Not in a pitch deck. But in reality. where capital is massive, the physics are unforgiving, and execution is everything. In this episode of VHTB, hosts Justus Kilian (Space Capital), Seyka Mejeur (Ad Astra Talent Advisors), and Matt Gjertsen (Built) sit down with Andy Lapsa, CEO and co-founder of Stoke Space, to unpack how one of the most ambitious new space companies is being built from the inside o…

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  • Founder Mode: Andy Lapsa, Founder & CEO, Stoke Space

    September 29, 2025 · 📺 The Social Radars Podcast

    Founder Mode: Andy Lapsa, Founder & CEO, Stoke Space In this episode we talk to Andy Lapsa of Stoke Space. This startup is literally doing rocket science, because they're building fully reusable rockets. Anyone who meets Andy is struck by the depth of his expertise, and in this company that's what founder mode means: a deep understanding of all the engineering problems. Listen to full episodes of The Social Radars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts: https://pod.link/1677066062 About the Show: Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy are The Social Radars. Carolynn and Jessica have been working toget…

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  • FoS Andy Lapsa

    July 31, 2025 · 📺 Daniel Fox

    🚀 The ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FUTURE of SPACE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FoS) video podcast, hosted by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Daniel Fox⁠⁠⁠⁠, is a candid and informal conversation between Fox and leaders, investors, innovators, educators, celebrities, movers and shakers, who are shaping the future of humankind into outer Space and here on Earth. Just like how two friends would chat and philosophize together, with one thing missing, a glass of wine! 🚀 Our Guest today is Andy Lapsa. Andy is the co-founder and CEO of Stoke Space Technologies, a company focused on sustainably scaling the space economy. He began his career at Blue Origin, developing the B…

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  • Launching Ahead: Stoke Space and the Next Frontier of Space Innovation

    June 23, 2025 · 📺 MaC Venture Capital

    Dan Feder of the University of Michigan sits down with Stoke CEO Andy Lapsa for an exclusive conversation on the founding story of Stoke and the company's vision for the future of space.

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  • Stoke Space • CEO, Andy Lapsa

    October 23, 2024 · 📺 noun

    Join Andy Lapsa, CEO of Stoke Space, as he answers real question from real student questions about space exploration and entrepreneurship. Discover why Stoke Space was founded and what it takes to lead a groundbreaking space company.

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  • Re-Release: Going to Space, Reusing the Entire Rocket, and Flying Again in 24 Hours, with Andy Lapsa

    October 22, 2024 · 📺 Where We Go Next

    Andy Lapsa is the co-founder of Stoke Space, a reusable rocket company started in 2019 with the knowledge that fully and rapidly reusable rockets represent the inevitable and necessary future of the space industry. Prior to founding Stoke, Andy was one of the original three members of Blue Origin’s BE-4 team, where he held architecture, design, analysis, and development test leadership roles. Stoke Space (https://www.stokespace.com/) Stoke Space Aims to Build Rapidly Reusable Rocket With a Completely Novel Design (https://wherewegonext.com/episodes/St...)  - Ars Technica First-Of-Its-Kind…

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  • 100% Reusability, with Andy Lapsa (Stoke Space)

    August 12, 2024 · 📺 Arkaea Media Group

    This week on Pathfinder, we welcome back Andy Lapsa, cofounder and CEO of Stoke Space. Stoke has made remarkable strides since Andy's last appearance on the show two years ago. They've grown to over 140 employees and developed innovative full-flow staged combustion cycle engines and reusable upper-stage prototypes. Andy shares his insights on the challenges and progress in creating fully reusable launch vehicles, emphasizing the importance of rapid reusability for reducing costs and increasing availability and reliability. We dive into Andy's background, including his ten years of experience…

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  • Stoke Space CEO Andy Lapsa - Fully Reusable Rockets - NSF Live

    January 07, 2024 · 📺 NASASpaceflight

    In this episode of NSF Live, Das will talk with Andy Lapsa, CEO of Stoke Space. Topics will include Aerospike Engines, the path to flight, the next testing milestones, and much more. NSF Live is NASASpaceflight.com's weekly(ish) show covering the latest (~1 week old) news in spaceflight. It's broadcast live on Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern. On each show, we rotate through various hosts and special guests. 🎵 Intro song: New Way Out by Denis. Licensed via PremiumBeat. LDAPAABJRG2UMCU3 🎵 Music used on streams and in videos is licensed via EpidemicSound: https://share.epidemicsound.com/qvh38e All co…

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The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →