Tim Ellis is an American aerospace engineer and the co-founder and former CEO of Relativity Space.

Early life and education

Ellis grew up in Plano, Texas. He is the oldest of three children. Ellis started college at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, where he planned to graduate and be a screenwriter, and study as part of USC’s Thematic Option program. However, during his freshman orientation he switched his major to aerospace engineering. Ellis and Relativity's other co-founder and CTO, Jordan Noone, both held leadership positions at USC's Rocket Propulsion Lab (RPL). Within RPL, Ellis and Noone helped launch the first student-designed and built rocket into space. While at the

, Ellis had three consecutive internships with Blue Origin. Ellis holds a BS and a MS in Aerospace Engineering from USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

Career

Blue Origin

After graduation, Ellis joined Blue Origin full time where he worked on 3D printed rocket components and served as a propulsion development engineer on crew capsule RCS thrusters, BE-4, and New Glenn. At Blue Origin, Ellis was credited for bringing metal 3D-printing in-house.

Relativity Space

In 2015, Ellis co-founded Relativity Space with his former classmate, Jordan Noone, with the mission of being the first company to launch a fully 3D printed rocket into orbit. Ellis and Noone received their initial $500,000 in funding from cold emailing Mark Cuban. In April 2018, Cuban told the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' over email that he invested in Relativity because, "They are smart, innovative, focused and always learning." Ellis and Noone were also part of Y Combinator in their 2016 cohort. Relativity Space announced its US$650 million Series E funding at US$4.2 billion valuation in June 2021. Ellis stepped away from the CEO position in March 2025. He will continue to "support the team as Co-founder and Board member."

Other activities

Ellis is the youngest member of the National Space Council User Advisory Group by nearly two decades.

Recognitions

Ellis was included on the 2019 ''

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'' 100 Next List, under the Phenoms section. Former NASA astronaut, Terry W. Virts, wrote the TIME excerpt on why Ellis was chosen. In 2019, Ellis was included on '' MIT Technology Review'' Innovators Under 35 issue. He was placed in the Entrepreneurs category. Ellis was recognized by ''

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'' in two of their 30 Under 30 lists in 2019 - the Manufacturing and Industry list and the Big Money list. Ellis was nominated by Via Satellite for their Satellite Executive of the Year 2019 award. In 2018, Ellis was included on ''Inc.'''s Rising Stars list of Most Inspiring Young Entrepreneurs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Tim American aerospace engineers Living people People from Plano, Texas USC Viterbi School of Engineering alumni American chief executives of manufacturing companies American company founders 1990s births