Spacepoint to host rocket engineer Saturday

SANDPOINT — An engineer from Stoke Space, a Kent, Wash.-based space launch company, will present at a 5 p.m. event in Sandpoint on Saturday. 

Matt Dethlefsen, who helps Stoke Space in its mission to develop 100% reusable rockets, will be hosted by local nonprofit Spacepoint at the University of Idaho’s Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center. 

“It's just an awesome company,” Spacepoint co-founder Kyle Averill said of Stoke Space. According to Averill, Saturday’s event will be “a chance to meet with other people and to explore, and maybe foster a bit of curiosity.” 

Spacepoint got off the ground in March 2023 when Averill and his wife Roxanne made it their objective to promote local interest in the space industry. 

“We're essentially building a pipeline of talent for higher education and for commercial industry,” Averill explained. 

Thanks to the emergence of private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, the space industry is in the midst of a renaissance, said Averill. As that progress continues, a diverse assortment of job opportunities will open up for enthusiasts. 

“You don't have to be a test pilot; you don't have to be a scientist,” said Averill. “The industry is so broad now.” 

In the past year and a half, Spacepoint has hosted industry experts at the Panida Theater, built an observatory (“Area 7B”) at the Sandpoint Organic Agriculture Center, and brought students cross-country to view events like SpaceX’s Starship launch from a Texas facility in November 2023. 

“What we want to do is get folks out of their comfort zone a little bit and get them to actually experience these things firsthand,” Averill said of the Starship launch. 

“Once you see the largest rocket in the world launch, it opens up all kinds of possibilities,” he added. “It stays with you.” 

Spacepoint has also taken students to Stoke Space’s facilities for a front-row understanding of the company’s innovative initiative of cutting wastefulness out of rocketry. 

“If you look at the history of exploration in aerospace, specifically in rocketry, they've all been throwaway rockets,” Averill said. 

“They use them once; they throw them away — not real smart,” he added. 

According to Averill, Stoke Space is taking steps toward fully reusable equipment that can be ready for re-launch in 24 hours. 

“That ability to reuse at that type of pace, it's a huge game changer,” said Averill. 

After Dethlefsen’s presentation Saturday, Spacepoint will offer attendees under 18 years old a chance to have their own firsthand experience in the space industry. 

Eligible attendees will be tested through a 10-question “knowledge check,” and according to Averill, “if they finish in the top three, we send them to Space Academy.” 

Each summer, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, welcomes young enthusiasts for a six-day camp known as Space Academy. In partnership with NASA, Spacepoint plans to fund visits for local kids in 2025 to fuel their passions and foster their skills. 

Saturday’s event will also include a reception with appetizers from Ivano’s Catering and a piano performance of soundtracks from sci-fi classics like “Dune” and “Interstellar” by Sarah Russell. 

Later, if weather permits, attendees will direct their eyes upward to examine the night sky through the telescope at the affectionately named Area 7B observatory at the site. 

“It makes people laugh,” said Averill of the name. “It's not so serious, right? We can explore this stuff, but we can have a good time doing it at the same time.” 

For Averill, cultivating enthusiasm and experience in the space sector is more important now than ever. 

“We live in a country of over 300 million people, and maybe five or 10 million people pay attention to the space industry,” said Averill. “That represents an opportunity, because you can get involved at a very early stage.” 

While upcoming initiatives like NASA’s Artemis program hope to return astronauts to the moon for the first time in decades, Averill believes there is plenty to be done on Planet Earth to get in on the space boom. 

“The reality is, we’re in space every day,” he said. 

“The only question now is, ‘where else are we going to go?’”