01/01/2023
BREAKING NEWS
GTRAD RETURNS TO THE INDUSTRY ACHERON FIRES ITS SEVEN ENGINES FOR THE FIRST TIME WILL OSIRIS EVER FLY AGAIN? MONTHS OF HARDWARE AND MANAGEMENT CHANGES MAKE THE VEHICLE'S FUTURE UNCERTAIN WHAT HAPPENED TO KARMAN AEROSPACE? TOTAL SILENCE FROM THE COMPANY CONFUSES THE INDUSTRY
Endurance Delayed Again as Expedition Aerospace Battles Setbacks Ahead of Maiden Flight
Launch delays, test failures, and a major relocation challenge the company’s ambitious return with its first fully in-house rocket.
5 May, 2025
John Doe
This article is classed as
ACCURACY REALISM
Endurance first stage prototype test fire in September, 2024. Video: Expedition Aerospace
After months of anticipation and multiple schedule changes, Expedition Aerospace’s upcoming debut of its in house rocket Endurance has once again slipped, as technical issues, regulatory delays, and a facility relocation continue to complicate the company’s return to flight.
The Endurance launch vehicle was first announced in September 2024, following a three month communications blackout that had raised concerns about the company's viability. That silence came after the maiden, and final flight of the Tinybird rocket earlier in the year. At the time, Expedition unveiled a plan for a fresh start, promising a more capable and scalable vehicle designed entirely in-house. But nearly a year later, the rocket still hasn’t flown.
Initially, TINYBIRD DEMO 2 was scheduled for July 2024, but after internal budget issues and a pause in company activity, the mission was quietly put on hold. By fall, Expedition Aerospace came back with its new flagship program, Endurance, scheduled for a December 2024 launch.
However, a string of logistical and technical challenges have continued to push back that milestone.
The most significant delays came from FAA approval processes and critical issues discovered during early testing, leading the company to quietly revise its target date to May 2025.
“In mid March, at our Utah Testing Range, our first stage prototype FS002 blew up due to a faulty LOX valve during testing in preparation for its upcoming static fire,” CEO Kaden said in a statement. “It destroyed the test stand and was a huge setback for us. Teams are looking at the data before we resume with FS003, which is hopefully our final prototype before moving on to our first full first stage.”
FS002 failure at the Utah Testing Range in March. Image: Expedition Aerospace
Moving to Vandenberg
Adding to the delays was Expedition Aerospace’s relocation of launch operations to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in April 2025. While the decision was announced as a long term plan to expand the company’s launch capabilities, it inevitably delayed further progress on Endurance’s development.
Ground hardware is now being staged and tested at SLC-576E, where teams are preparing for a series of integrated systems trials before moving into full stack testing. These tests, essential for validating avionics, fueling systems, and pad compatibility, are expected to continue through late May.
“We are still targeting a launch sometime in mid June,” Kaden added. “But with these setbacks, it could be longer until Endurance gets off the ground.”
Despite the challenges, observers note that Endurance represents a major shift for the company. Unlike Tinybird, which was lower capability and relied on off the shelf systems, Endurance is a fully in house design, and is meant to give Expedition a more sustainable and flexible launch platform.
Sources close to the program indicate that Expedition sees Endurance as a foundation for future multi-stage and reusable systems, although those ambitions may still be years away.
“Endurance is about proving we can build and fly our own hardware,” one engineer working on the program told RSN. “It’s a big step from where we were with Tinybird, but this one has to work. We don’t have the resources to fail big.”
If all goes well, Endurance could fly by mid to late summer, marking a critical milestone in Expedition Aerospace’s return to active launch operations. But with regulatory reviews ongoing, hardware validation still in progress, and the incident of a recent test stand failure fresh in the minds of engineers, nothing is guaranteed.
For now, the company maintains that they are alive and progressing, but the pressure is on.