AI, ex-Soviet engineers, and the Holy Grail of rocketry: Inside the bold bet to rival SpaceX

The aerospace startup Aspire is designing a fully reusable rocket that could make launches cheaper. It might just beat Elon Musk at his own game. “The engine that we have now could have probably taken seven years and up to half a billion dollars,” Stan Rudenko tells me over a video call from Abu Dhabi. “In our collaboration, it basically took half a year . . . and we already have a first version. It’s mind-blowing.”