Next launch
KO-08 · Feather Count
No earlier than 19 Nov 2026, 06:42 PST from Pad 1, Vandenberg
14 payloads for 9 customers · 550 km sun-synchronous · webcast from T–20 min
Small-satellite launch · Mojave, California
Small rockets. Exact orbits.
Windhover flies 3U cubesats to 420‑kilogram spacecraft to the orbit they were built for, from our pad on the California coast, every three weeks.
Eleven satellites released 550 km above the South Pacific, nine minutes and fourteen seconds after leaving California.
See every flight01VehicleWindhover · Block 2 · flight-proven ×6
Twenty-one metres. Seven engines. One job.
Windhover is a two-stage, carbon-composite launcher sized for the satellites people actually build now: a few kilograms to a few hundred. The first stage comes home under a parafoil and flies again. The second stage drops every payload at the orbit on the contract, then burns itself back into the atmosphere so nothing we fly becomes debris.
- 1Talon-1 × 736 kN each at sea level, printed in Mojave
- 2Stage 1Carbon tanks, liquid oxygen and methane; lands under a parafoil
- 3InterstagePneumatic separation, no pyrotechnics to service
- 4Stage 2One Talon-V vacuum engine, 41 kN, restarts three times
- 5Payload bayØ1.24 × 2.55 m usable, with the Perch kick stage as an option
- 6FairingTwo composite halves, recovered from the water by our boat
- Height
- 21.4m
- Diameter
- 1.5m
- Liftoff mass
- 16,900kg
- Liftoff thrust
- 252kN
- To 550 km SSO
- 420kg
- To 400 km SSO
- 520kg
- Fairing, usable
- 1.24×2.55m
- Pad to pad
- 11days
Talon-1 · Rev FPrinted copper alloy
The engine
Printed in one piece, fired before it flies.
Every Talon-1 is printed in copper alloy in 31 hours, machined, then hot-fired on Stand 2 for a full mission duration before it goes near a vehicle. Its 212 cooling channels are printed inside the chamber wall, so there's nothing to braze and nothing to leak.
36kNSea-level thrust
31hFrom print file to part
214Hot-fires on Stand 2 this year
9.4MPaChamber pressure
02ManifestPublic flight log
Seven flights. Six orbits. Thirty-four satellites.
Every flight gets a name, a public timeline and, when something goes wrong, a public report. We think that's the least a customer should expect from a rocket company.
- KO-09Long LightDedicated · one 380 kg imaging satelliteDateNET Jan 2027Orbit525 km SSOPayloads1Manifest locked
- KO-07Night ShiftRideshare · first night launch, orbital sunrise at T+9:56Date22 Oct 2026Orbit550 km SSOPayloads11Nominal
- KO-06MantleRideshare · booster B1003 on its third flightDate16 Sep 2026Orbit550 km SSOPayloads7Nominal
- KO-05UpdraftDedicated · 318 kg radar satellite, 41 m from targetDate28 Jul 2026Orbit560 km SSOPayloads1Nominal
- KO-04KitingRideshare · first Perch kick stage, three altitudesDate2 Jun 2026Orbit525 km SSOPayloads9Nominal
- KO-03StoopRideshare · first paying customersDate9 Apr 2026Orbit550 km SSOPayloads5Nominal
- KO-02Second WindTest · first orbit, our own Kite-0 demo satelliteDate21 Jan 2026Orbit540 km SSOPayloads1Nominal
- KO-01Hovering Is HardTest · stage 2 did not ignite, peak altitude 81 kmDate14 Aug 2025OrbitSuborbitalPayloads0Anomaly
About KO-01: a four-gram spring in the second stage's igniter valve was the wrong alloy. We found it in 19 days, changed the supplier and published all 46 pages of the report. Every flight since has reached orbit.
04Launch siteMojave → Vandenberg
Built in Mojave. Flown from the coast.
Every Windhover is built, printed and hot-fired at our hangar on the Mojave flight line, then driven 302 km overnight to Pad 1 at Vandenberg. From there we fly south over open Pacific, which is how you reach sun-synchronous orbit without flying over anyone.
- Factory and test
- Hangar 4, Mojave Air & Space Port3,900 m² of factory, engine Stand 2 and an ISO 8 clean room
- Launch pad
- Pad 1, Vandenberg SFB34.632° N, 120.611° W
- By road
- 302 km, one night, two trucks
- Launch azimuth
- 196°, south over the Pacific
- Usual windows
- 05:00–08:00 PTPad to pad in 11 days
05Careers74 people · 9 open roles
Seventy-four people. Nine open seats.
We hire people who would rather fly something every three weeks than draw it for three years. Most roles are in Mojave, launch operations live in Lompoc, relocation is paid and every listing shows its salary range.
- FridaysHot-fires on Stand 2 most Fridays at four. Everyone gets ear defenders and a seat in the bunker.
- Launch dayThe whole company in mission control from T–3 hours, breakfast burritos from Mojave's best gas station.
- First 90 daysEvery new hire watches a launch from the pad perimeter, two kilometres out.
“We're not trying to build the biggest rocket. We're building the one that shows up on the date we gave you.”
Propulsion development engineer, Talon-V
Own hot-fire campaigns for the vacuum engine, from test plan to post-fire teardown.
GNC engineer, ascent
Write the steering law that puts Windhover's second stage within 50 metres of the target.
Launch operations technician
Pad systems, propellant loading and the 2 a.m. countdowns that come with them.
Additive manufacturing lead
Run the copper-alloy print cell that makes every Talon chamber and injector.
Avionics test technician
Build harnesses and keep the hardware-in-the-loop bench flying a mission every night.
Mission manager
Take customers' satellites from signed contract to confirmed deploy, and answer their calls.
Three more roles in finance, safety and recovery.All open roles
06ContactManifest desk
Book a slot on the manifest.
Tell us about the satellite. A mission manager will reply within one working day with a flight, a price and a draft interface control document. Imogen Castellanos runs the desk, and yes, she answers the phone.
- Manifest desk
- (555) 015-0550[email protected]
- Hours
- Mon–Fri, 7:00–17:00 PTLaunch nights, all night
- Hangar
- Hangar 4, 1840 Flightline RoadMojave, CA 93501
- Press and careers
- [email protected][email protected]