Founding and funding (2015–2023) Relativity Space was founded in 2015 by
CEO Tim Ellis and CTO
Jordan Noone on the idea that existing
private spaceflight companies were not putting in enough attention and research into the potential of
additive manufacturing (3D printing). Relativity was founded with the intent of being the first company to successfully launch a fully
3D-printed launch vehicle into orbit. In November 2020, Relativity Space announced its
US$500 million
Series D funding at a calculated US$2.3 billion valuation. In June 2021 Relativity announced another
US$650 million funding round led by
Fidelity Investments at a valuation of
US$4.2 billion, bringing its total funding to US$1.335 billion. The funding will help the development of a partially reusable
heavy-lift launch vehicle, the
Terran R, targeting a first orbital launch no earlier than 2026. Relativity Space has investors including
Baillie Gifford,
Blackrock, BOND,
Coatue,
Fidelity,
General Catalyst,
ICONIQ Capital,
K5 Global,
Mark Cuban,
Playground Global,
Social Capital,
Tiger Global,
Tribe Capital, and
Y Combinator among others. In June 2022, it was reported that Relativity Space would send
OneWeb’s second-gen broadband satellites to orbit in 2025 (though
Terran R is now projected to launch for the first time no earlier than 2026). This announcement marked a total value of binding launch deals for that rocket to over $1.2 billion despite the company having yet to have launched their first rocket.
"Good Luck, Have Fun" and shifting to Terran R (From 2023) The company's initial attempt to launch its first rocket, named
Terran 1, on March 8, 2023 was scrubbed due to technical issues, with a second attempt anticipated for March 11, 2023, which was also scrubbed. On March 23, 2023, Relativity launched its first Terran 1 flight, naming it "Good Luck, Have Fun" and carrying no payload. but it experienced failure during its second stage of flight and failed to reach orbit. Following the failed launch, Relativity announced that it was retiring
Terran 1 in favor of developing the much larger, reusable
Terran R vehicle. The
Terran R design transitions some of the parts with less complexity (such as tanks) to more closely resemble manufacturing techniques used by others in the industry, instead of relying on additive manufacturing. The shift to the Terran R was also motivated by market forces in the launch industry.
SpaceX's
Falcon-9 rideshare missions, which launch many small satellites in a single launch, can offer lower pricing than a dedicated launch on smaller rocket. As a result, companies with smaller launch vehicles saw the need to diversify or pivot from their small launch vehicles. The
Terran R is a much larger launch vehicle than the
Terran 1, making it possible for it to be more cost-competitive with the Falcon 9.
Rocket Lab took a similar approach, developing its
Neutron launch vehicle, and additionally expanding its satellite hardware business. On March 10, 2025, Relativity announced that former
Google head
Eric Schmidt replaced Ellis as CEO of the company, though Ellis remains on the board. Schmidt was reported to have taken a
controlling interest in the company. == Facilities ==