The Stoke Space Factory Tour with CEO Andy Lapsa

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. We cover: - How Stoke is scaling Nova from the three-ton Pathfinder to the 15-ton Block 2 - What changes and what stays the same in Block 2’s propulsion architecture - How Stoke plans to ramp Pathfinder production while developing Block 2 in parallel - What remains before Pathfinder ships for final testing and its first orbital flight - Why Stoke is expanding its manufacturing and testing footprint following the $1 billion Series E • Show notes • Stoke’s’ website — https://www.stokespace.com/ Stoke’s’ socials — https://x.com/stoke_space Andy's socials – https://x.com/AndyLapsa Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/ • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies reshaping industry, national security, and the global balance of power. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload, Tectonic, Ignition, and Decoding Bio, the show covers space, defense, energy, biotech, and the technologies shaping what comes next. We sit down with founders, investors, government officials, scientists, and military leaders to understand what they’re building, why it matters, and where these industries are headed. From new companies and breakthrough technologies to capital, policy, and geopolitics, Valley of Depth goes deep on the forces shaping the future. • Payload: www.payloadspace.com • Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com • Ignition: www.ignition-news.com • Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com