Stoke Space received authorization from Space Launch Delta 45 to conduct engineering studies and environmental assessments on property north of its existing launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Right of Entry allows the company to evaluate developing a second launch site for its Nova rocket at the location of Launch Complex 15.
The expansion is intended to support high-cadence launch and re-entry operations as Stoke brings both its Nova Pathfinder and larger Nova Block 2 vehicles online. Stoke rebuilt Space Launch Complex 14, the historic pad used for John Glenn's Friendship 7 mission in 1962 and subsequent Mercury-Atlas crewed flights, which the company completed in just over a year after receiving the allocation in 2023.
Nova Pathfinder, Stoke's first orbital configuration, is targeted for launch around mid-2027. The vehicle uses seven Zenith full-flow staged-combustion engines on the first stage and a single Andromeda hydrolox engine on the upper stage with an actively cooled metallic heat shield. Stoke shipped its first flight booster from its Washington facilities to Cape Canaveral on November 4, 2026.
Nova Block 2, a larger configuration unveiled in September 2026, targets 15 tonnes to low Earth orbit in fully reusable mode using 14 Zenith engines on the first stage and an Andromeda Block 2 upper stage engine. First flight of Block 2 is planned for 2029. Stoke raised $1 billion in Series E funding in September 2026.