Starfighters is adding launch operations experience
Starfighters Space has recruited two former Blue Origin managers as it works to move its air-launch platform closer to flight demonstrations and sustained operations. SpaceNews reported that Jose Arias joined as vice president of space operations and Catrina Medeiros became director of operations for Starlaunch, the company’s planned launch service that would use supersonic F-104 jets as a first-stage lifting platform.
The hires are significant because Starfighters is trying to move from technical development into a more execution-focused phase. CEO Tim Franta told SpaceNews that the two executives were brought in for experience scaling complex aerospace and launch operations from development into production and sustained execution. That description places the staffing move in a broader context: the company is not only building hardware, but also trying to establish the operational discipline needed to turn a concept into repeatable missions.
Air-launch has long been presented as a way to add flexibility to launch operations by releasing payloads from aircraft at altitude rather than sending rockets from the ground alone. Starfighters’ version would rely on a fleet of supersonic F-104 aircraft. The company is still awaiting regulatory approval for its first suborbital mission, which had previously been slated for the end of 2025, according to SpaceNews. The latest report says the company is not providing updated public timing guidance or customer mission details.
The new executives bring production-focused backgrounds
Arias previously worked at Blue Origin as a senior manufacturing engineer and integration and production lead across propulsion system hardware. Starfighters said he led process improvements there that reduced integration cycle time from 76 days to 13 days. Medeiros, meanwhile, was operations manager for Blue Origin’s New Glenn Stage 2 and Precision Cleaning Facility programs, where she led cross-functional teams and helped transition work from development into production operations.
Before Blue Origin, Medeiros spent more than a decade at Lockheed Martin Space Systems as a senior manufacturing planner on NASA’s Orion crew module program. Together, those backgrounds suggest Starfighters is targeting a very specific capability set: not just aerospace engineering, but program execution under conditions that require coordination across manufacturing, integration, and operational readiness.
For an emerging launch company, those skills can be decisive. Demonstration flights matter, but so do the procedures and throughput needed to support recurring missions. Franta said the pair’s focus includes operational integration, process discipline, mission readiness, and throughput optimization across Starlaunch-related programs. Those are the kinds of functions that become increasingly important when a company is trying to prove it can move beyond a one-off test campaign.
