Fenix Space wants to launch rockets from regular airports — and it just proved the idea works

The US launched 194 rockets into orbit in 2025 — more than double the 2022 rate — yet nearly all of them depended on two spaceports built in the 1960s. Fenix Space, a California startup, thinks the fix is already paved into the ground at thousands of airports across the country: a standard runway.

The bottleneck problem

America's launch cadence has exploded, but the infrastructure hasn't kept up. The concentration of traffic at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg worries more than just industry planners. As Washington Times reported, NASA's administrator has called the situation a "bottleneck for national security," and the Pentagon is actively hunting for more flexible alternatives — particularly for rapid-response missions. Fenix has already contracted for hypersonic testing under a DoD responsive launch program.

Towed to 40,000 feet, then ignition

Fenix's approach works like a powered glider. The Fenix Alpha prototype is towed behind a carrier aircraft to roughly 40,000 feet, where the atmosphere is thin enough to avoid the punishing drag of a ground-level launch. At altitude, it separates autonomously, fires its own engines, and continues toward orbit.

The company just completed a week-long test campaign with four successful flights, validating both autonomous separation and complex in-flight maneuvers. All avionics and flight software were developed in-house — the same systems will be scaled up for the full-size Fenix 1.0 vehicle. Per Payload Space, CEO Jason Lee says the model slashes costs by relying on reusable aviation assets and eliminates the wait for an open launch window at an overcrowded pad.

The 2028 target

Commercial operations are planned for 2028, with early focus on small satellites going to low Earth orbit (LEO) and hypersonic test payloads. The longer ambition is multiple launches per day from any FAA-licensed runway — no dedicated spaceport required.

Fenix raised $30 million from Alaska Capital in September 2025 to expand capacity, putting it in a stronger position to compete with pad-based operators like SpaceX and Blue Origin. Virgin Orbit attempted a similar runway-based launch from the UK in 2023 and failed; no other air-launch developer has since stepped into that gap.

If Fenix hits its 2028 milestone, booking a rocket could eventually look a lot more like scheduling a cargo flight than reserving a launchpad years in advance.