Andy Lapsa on 100% reusable rockets, Stoke Space, and sustainable launch

Andy is the CEO and cofounder of Stoke Space, a startup that aims to build 100% reusable rockets. The startup raised a $9.1M seed round in 2020, graduated from Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch, and then announced a $65M Series A in December.

All the while, Stoke has been moving quickly to build a completely new kind of rocket. Over the course of our 70-minute conversation, we talk at length with Andy about Stoke’s technological strategy and long-term prospects.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Spaced Ventures, which recently launched an effort to open an investment round into SpaceX. The space investment portal has received over $38M million in pledges from 2,150+ investors. Find out more at https://www.spacedventures.com/

TIMESTAMPS
01:57 — Andy's resume, from Cornell to Blue Origin and beyond
06:54 — Leaving Blue and thinking through what's next
08:36 — Thesis, team, & track record
12:06 — An engineering challenge, not a science problem
15:52 — Escaping Earth's gravity well is no small feat
18:36 — $$$
22:18 — Analogy from the high seas and 200 years ago
24:02 — What Stoke is doing differently ... and @ 24:55 the unsolved problem
28:38 — The most novel part to Stoke's approach
33:24 — Speed, vertical integration, and tightly coupled systems
37:21 — The test stand in Moses Lake, Washington
39:44 — Fundraising, from the seed round to a $65M Series A
40:15 — Sustainability
52:45 — Testing + developing a reusable second stage
1:00:49 — Stoke in a post-Starship world
1:04:05 — Who will the customers be?

LINKS
https://www.stokespace.com/
  / stoke_space  
  / andylapsa  
https://payloadspace.com/stoke-series-a/
  / ryandoofy  

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