Cape neighbors Stoke and Relativity advance LC-14 and LC-16 toward first flights

3 min read · reported by NASASpaceflight

Along Missile Row at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Stoke Space and Relativity Space are building out launch sites almost side by side.

Launch Complex 14 and Launch Complex 16 sit as neighbors on the Space Coast, two historic pads now being readied for two different reusable rockets: Stoke’s fully reusable medium-lift Nova and Relativity’s partially reusable heavy-lift Terran R. LC-15 still sits between them, but it is expected to remain inactive.

On the latest NSF Cape/KSC flyover, the two working sites look close enough to read as a pair, capturing LC-14 looking nearly rocket-ready, while LC-16 is still in the middle of a major rebuild.

LC-14: a finished-looking pad waiting on Nova

LC-14 is not the next-generation pad most people picture. It is a rebuilt Mercury-era complex with a compact footprint and a red tower as a nod to the site that sent John Glenn into orbit aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962. Stoke will launch Nova from here, with the latest aerial views showing a site kept remarkably tidy. That lack of visible construction is itself a data point: when a pad looks unused, the groundwork is often done, and the vehicle is the long pole.

That vehicle is still in Washington state. Stoke has completed proto-qualification and structural verification of Nova’s first stage and is building and testing first-flight hardware. Second-stage work continues in parallel. The next visible step is Nova hardware on the Space Coast, with a first launch campaign still tracking to later this year or early next year if the vehicle holds schedule.

LC-16: Relativity still in the thick of pad work

Relativity’s Launch Complex 16 is still undergoing major work. The site already supported Terran 1’s single flight in 2023 and is being rebuilt for a much larger vehicle.

From the air, the difference is obvious. Crews are stacking lightning towers while the rest of the complex shifts from civil construction into activation. The Horizontal Integration Facility is energized, its bridge crane has passed a proof-load test, and the transporter-erector’s upper strongback is already inside as cleanroom outfitting continues.

Rails for the transporter-erector are down and visible in satellite imagery; site power is live via two 22 kV feeds; and work is wrapping up on water, propellant, and the transporter-erector itself.

That groundwork is running in parallel with vehicle milestones. Relativity has completed structural qualification of Terran R’s first stage. The second stage has moved through cryoproof testing and is being prepared for its first hot fire at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Engine integration has begun on the first-flight booster’s thrust structure. That booster is expected to follow to Stennis for its own hot-fire campaign.

Officially, Relativity is still pointing Terran R at late 2026. That date is ambitious and already facing tight timelines.

The pad is only part of Relativity’s longer Space Coast plan. In July, Space Florida unveiled Project Forge, an early-stage expansion effort announced by Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Farnborough International Air Show.

Relativity has outlined new facilities and a large hiring ramp through 2034 if Terran R operations scale. Relativity CEO Eric Schmidt has also noted Terran R is expected to help with the mass deployment of his own orbital data centers.

Announced today at the Farnborough International Airshow: @relativityspace will expand Terran R production and add test and launch infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. https://t.co/6LEgGGw5he

— Space Florida (@SpaceFlorida) July 21, 2026

The preliminary list includes a payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, an expansion of LC-16, an upper-stage test site, and a new manufacturing facility.

Reported by NASASpaceflight. Reproduced unedited by Everything Space. View the original →