Founder Rick Svetkoff Steps Down as CEO of Starfighters Space
STARLAUNCH I Heads Towards Critical Design Review
Rick Svetkoff, 72, has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, president, Chairman and Director of Starfighters Space. Mr. Svetkoff’s spouse, Brenda Svetkoff, has also resigned as Company secretary. The board of directors of the Company has appointed Tim Franta as Chief Executive Officer.
“Rick built Starfighters from the ground up. As we move into the commercialization era of our business, we are grateful for the strong foundation, both operationally and financially, he has left us.”
Tim Franta, Starfighters Space
Mr. Svetkoff has had a distinguished career. After college, Svetkoff joined the U.S. Navy in 1978 and flew the venerable A-4 fighter jets. Svetkoff left the Navy in 1984 and began a new career as a Continental Airlines pilot, prior to founding Starfighters in 1996. On behalf of the remaining board and management, the Company thanks the Svetkoff’s for their visionary leadership and efforts in progressing Starfighters to its current stage of development and wishes them success in their future endeavors.
“Rick built Starfighters from the ground up. As we move into the commercialization era of our business, we are grateful for the strong foundation, both operationally and financially, he has left us,” said Tim Franta, Chief Executive Officer.
Tim Franta has served as Starfighters’ VP of Development since October 18, 2022. He is leading development of the STARLAUNCH air-launch system intended to fly rockets capable of delivering payloads to space. Before Starfighters, he was Energy Florida’s Deputy Director in Cape Canaveral (October 2018 to September 2022) and previously Director of Special Projects (2012 to October 2018). His work focused on space and energy business development, translating financial and technical requirements into fundable business plans and aligning public policy with private and government financing. Earlier, he worked for the Florida Legislature and served as Chief of Staff for the Florida Space Authority, where he helped draft space transportation legislation, oversaw FAA licensing of two launch pads, and supported more than $300 million in space and ground infrastructure funding. He also authored the Florida Space Transportation Act.
“I’ve worked with Tim for more than 20 years on commercializing space. It is very fitting that he now leads a company that aims to continue that development. I congratulate him on his new role and look forward to seeing to what heights he can take Starfighters,” said Bill Posey, former congressman (2009–2025) who represented Florida’s Space Coast.
The news of Svetkoff’s resignation comes as the company announced that, after successful wind tunnel testing of the STARLAUNCH I rocket design, it is moving forward to Critical Design Review (“CDR”) with support from GE Aerospace. The CDR is intended to confirm design maturity and support the program’s transition into its next phase of build and test planning.
The planned review follows Starfighters’ recently announced completion of subsonic and supersonic wind tunnel testing for STARLAUNCH 1, which demonstrated clean separation behavior across tested flight conditions and correlated well with the Company’s computational models. Starfighters has also initiated procurement of instrumented demonstrator vehicle to be flown underwing to further evaluate separation dynamics under flight conditions.
In aerospace development, a CDR is a structured program milestone used to provide a detailed, integrated review of a system’s design before proceeding into full-scale fabrication, integration, and formal test execution. A typical CDR process reviews the design baseline, interfaces, verification plans, and key risks, and provides management and engineering leadership with a basis to authorize the next stage of program execution.
Starfighters expects the STARLAUNCH 1 CDR to evaluate design documentation and analysis for the vehicle and its interfaces with the carrier aircraft, with a focus on configuration control, manufacturability, and test readiness. The review is also expected to address verification plans, including the sequence from ground validation through drop testing and subsequent flight evaluation.
GE Aerospace has supported Starfighters’ STARLAUNCH development through prior engineering work and flight test activities, and the Company plans to leverage GE Aerospace participation in the upcoming review to strengthen program discipline and accelerate risk reduction.
“We execute STARLAUNCH as a series of practical, documented steps to space,” said Tim Franta, Director and VP Development at Starfighters. “A critical design review is where we confirm that the design is ready for the next phase. Our team is dedicated and focused on the mission, and we are staying disciplined as we progress STARLAUNCH 1.”
STARLAUNCH 1 is being developed as a sub-orbital vehicle designed to support short-duration microgravity missions and serves as a pathfinder for future air-launched concepts. In parallel, Starfighters’ validated separation work supports its broader aerospace testing services, including programs where clean separation is required for advanced and hypersonic vehicle testing.