Why re-invent the wheel when really well designed wheels are available? Rocketplane’s approach is to work with experts and companies already established instead of trying to do everything ourselves. We do not want to be a factory. We are designers and operators. Instead of hiring a few engineers, we hire companies of engineers who already have designed aircraft to do the detailed design work. Instead of hiring a few skilled people to build a rocketplane, we are hiring companies already building airplanes to build our vehicles. Instead of becoming experts in designing and building reusable rocket engines, we are using well proven rocket engines ready off-the-shelf.  A large company of experts is less effective today than a distributed organization working closely with experts in smaller, more focused groups, often in different cities and different countries. By not requiring our own manufacturing facilities, we have dramatic savings in cost and time, and a vast improvement in efficiency and experience. This gives us full control, with the experts and facilities available when and as needed at minimal cost and maximum productivity.

Our team of engineers include the original master designers, Mitchell Burnside Clapp and Dan Raymer, and additional engineers supporting them. Supporting engineers are also working on a distributed management basis - contracting companies as needed for specific tasks. Our president, John Burgener, has been developing reusable rockets since 1991. He was instrumental in founding Rotary Rocket Company as one of the three original investors, along with Walt Anderson and Tom Clancy. He was one of the first investors in Xcor and Pioneer Rocketplane, and advisor to them. He formerly was president of Pioneer Rocketplane, and V. President of Kistler Space Systems. He is president of Telegistics Inc., which owns 100% of Rocketplane Global.

Rocketplane has a long history of development. It started with Pioneer Rocketplane, became an independent Oklahoma company, raised $40 million and designed the first Rocketplane XP. It merged with Kistler and became Rocketplane Kistler which won a $500 million COTS contract from NASA to supply the Space Station. That contract was canceled by NASA leading to bankruptcy of Rocketplane Kistler in 2010. John Burgener and George French bought Rocketplane Kistler out of bankruptcy, separated the companies and created Rocketplane Global and Kistler Space Systems. Rocketplane Global was incorporated as a Delaware company in 2017 and Kistler was closed in 2018. While passenger flight remains a goal, the satellite vehicle designs have been the main focus since 2017.