Alert: Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary launch on a chartered flight to the space station aboard SpaceX
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary launch on a chartered flight to the space station aboard SpaceX.
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7 Space Stocks I'd Buy Without Hesitation
The space economy is projected to reach $944 billion by 2033, creating massive wealth-building opportunities. Smart investors are looking beyond the obvious plays to find the next generation of space winners. These seven stocks offer diversified exposure to every corner of the space revolution. 10 stocks we like better than AST SpaceMobile › Space stocks could be about to lift off. Fueled by advances in artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and ever-rising compute power, these companies could be potent wealth escalators in the decades ahead. Yet while everyone fixates on SpaceX's latest launch or dreams of Mars colonies, the real money is being made in less glamorous corners of the space economy -- from satellite communications that connect smartphones in the Amazon to space-based drug manufacturing that could cure cancer. The companies profiting from this opportunity that some see hitting $944 billion by 2033 aren't just building rockets. They're creating the infrastructure for humanity's next economic frontier. Here are seven space stocks I'd buy without batting an eye right now. AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) is solving a problem that affects 5 billion people: cellular dead zones. The company's direct-to-smartphone satellite technology requires no special hardware or apps; your phone connects directly to satellites orbiting overhead. The stock has rocketed more than 400% over the past 12 months, driven by game-changing partnerships like its recent deal with Vodafone Idea to serve 1.1 billion mobile subscribers in India. With $874 million in cash and plans to launch 20 to 25 satellites over the next six to nine months, AST SpaceMobile is rapidly building out its constellation. Management projects second-half 2025 revenue of $50 million to $75 million -- a meaningful ramp from current levels. Yes, it's burning cash today, but when you're building the infrastructure to connect half the planet, that's the cost of admission. Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) isn't trying to compete with SpaceX on size. It's competing on frequency and reliability. The company generated $122.6 million in Q1 2025 revenue, up 32% year over year, with its space systems business contributing 71% to total sales. More importantly, Rocket Lab has a $1.07 billion backlog and is preparing to launch its larger Neutron rocket. The stock has surged 554% over the past 12 months to near all-time highs around $33. But with the company targeting a potential $5.6 billion National Security Space Launch contract, the growth runway extends far beyond the stratosphere. Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ: LUNR) made history in 2024 as the first American company to land on the moon in over 50 years. Still, the real story is its selection for NASA's $4.8 billion Near Space Network program. While this maximum contract value is shared among multiple providers, Intuitive Machines has already secured significant milestone payments and turned free-cash-flow-positive in Q1 2025, generating $13.3 million despite just $62.5 million in revenue. After successfully launching its IM-2 mission in February 2025 and projecting full-year revenue of $250 million to $300 million, the company offers a rare combination: a space stock that's generating cash while building critical infrastructure for lunar exploration. The stock has gained 173% over the past 12-month period, and with analysts expecting the company to reach profitability by 2027, patient investors could be handsomely rewarded. BlackSky (NYSE: BKSY) operates in the rapidly growing Earth observation market with its constellation of satellites delivering 35-centimeter resolution imagery -- detailed enough to identify individual vehicles and people. The company's Gen-3 satellites can revisit locations hourly and deliver analytics within 12 hours of launch. With over $130 million in Q1 2025 contract wins, including a $100 million seven-year international defense deal, BlackSky is building recurring revenue streams that most space companies can only dream about. Trading at under $17 a share at the time of writing, with a market cap of just $516 million, it's a tiny player in a massive market. Redwire (NYSE: RDW) is pioneering the most science fiction aspect of the space economy: manufacturing in microgravity. The company has successfully bioprinted human tissue on the International Space Station and is working with pharmaceutical giants like Eli Lilly on drug development. Despite Q1 2025 revenue falling 30% to $61.4 million, Redwire is acquiring drone maker Edge Autonomy for $925 million to create a combined entity projecting $535 million to $605 million in 2025 revenue. With shares up 163% over the past 12 months, investors are positioning for a future where manufacturing in space becomes as routine as manufacturing on Earth. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) might seem like an odd choice for a list of space stocks, but the defense giant's space segment is developing next-generation satellites and missile defense systems critical to national security. The company's TacSat demonstration satellite, predicted to launch in 2025, will showcase 5G military communications and advanced infrared sensing capabilities. Trading at just 17 times 2025 estimated earnings with a dividend yield above 2%, Lockheed offers a safer way to play the space boom while still capturing upside from increased government spending on space-based defense systems. Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG) burst onto the public markets in June 2025 with an IPO priced at $31 and soared to $69.75 on its opening day. The company is developing Starlab, a commercial space station to replace the ISS, with $217.5 million in NASA funding and partnerships with Palantir, Airbus, and Mitsubishi. While the stock has pulled back from its debut highs to trade around $44 a share as of this writing, Voyager offers pure-play exposure to the space station economy, a market that could be worth tens of billions as companies seek microgravity research facilities. Yes, it's losing money today, but so was Amazon when it was building AWS. I'm not worried. These seven stocks offer different ways to profit from humanity's expansion beyond Earth. AST SpaceMobile and BlackSky are building the communications and intelligence infrastructure. Rocket Lab and Intuitive Machines provide the transportation. Redwire pioneers manufacturing. Lockheed Martin supplies the defense capabilities. And Voyager Space creates the destinations. We're still in the dial-up-internet era of space commerce. Just as nobody in 1995 could imagine streaming 4K video on their phone, we can barely conceive what the space economy will enable by 2035. But one thing is certain: The companies building this infrastructure today can mint fortunes for patient investors willing to look beyond the launch pad. Before you buy stock in AST SpaceMobile, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and AST SpaceMobile wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $676,023!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $883,692!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 793% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 173% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. George Budwell has positions in Intuitive Machines, Lockheed Martin, Palantir Technologies, and Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Palantir Technologies, and Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 7 Space Stocks I'd Buy Without Hesitation was originally published by The Motley Fool Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
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Lunchtime liftoff: SpaceX set for 2nd rocket launch Wednesday
SpaceX is keeping extra busy Wednesday as crews prepare to launch a second Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Space Coast. This mission will send 27 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. The satellites will continue to grow Starlink's global internet network. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:39 p.m. at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX worked early Wednesday morning to get its first assignment of the day off the ground. The company's Axiom-4 mission took flight at 2:31 a.m. from Kennedy Space Center, sending a crew of four astronauts toward the International Space Station. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
TechCrunch
2 hours ago
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New space startup Lux Aeterna wants to make satellites reusable
Satellites can accomplish incredible tasks like provide internet, or help monitor wildfires. But many of them ultimately meet a fiery death burning up in the Earth's atmosphere. Others use their last bit of fuel to move to so-called 'graveyard' orbits, where they circle the planet in a perpetual deep freeze. A new startup called Lux Aeterna wants to change this. The Denver-based company, which is coming out of stealth today, has designed a reusable satellite called Delphi that it aims to launch — and land — in 2027. If successful, it could help slash the cost to get satellite payloads into space. It would also make the process far more flexible than it is today, since satellites are designed to stay in orbit for years and essentially can't be modified for other uses. These attributes have already piqued the interest of the Department of Defense, which has made low-Earth orbit an important part of the United States' military strategy. Venture capitalists have also taken notice — and written checks. The startup's pitch was attractive enough to generate $4 million in pre-seed funding, led by Space Capital and including other early-stage funds like Dynamo Ventures and Mission One Capital. Founder and CEO Brian Taylor said the idea for Lux Aeterna came to him last year while he watched his former employer, SpaceX, launch one of its Starship test vehicles into space. 'I want to fill Starship with something amazing, and something that changes the entire industry,' Taylor recalled thinking during an interview with TechCrunch. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Starship is the biggest rocket ever built. As part of that, it has the potential to send larger payloads into space than was previously possible. Size matters for people who build satellites and other spacecraft, since they're often working backwards from the simple constraint of what can fit inside a rocket's cargo area. And Starship is not alone — there are other heavy-lift rockets in the works, too, like Blue Origin's New Glenn. It's hard to design a satellite that can survive the brutal forces of re-entering the Earth's atmosphere at high speeds. But with the extra space afforded by heavy-lift rockets, Taylor said it's possible to build one that can survive multiple re-entries without having to compromise on the technology because of cost or weight tradeoffs. In the case of Lux Aeterna, that means using a heat shield. In the rendering the startup released Wednesday, the Delphi satellite's conical heat shield is reminiscent of the ones that protected some of NASA's most famous spacecraft. There's a reason for that, according to Taylor: Those designs worked. 'We definitely looked at what NASA had done in the past on exploratory missions [and] sample return missions, and that really helped justify the architecture that we've gone with,' he said. 'I think it's very important, when you're doing something ambitious like this, that you're not reinventing the wheel on everything, right?' Taylor declined to get into further specifics about how the Delphi satellite will work, or how Lux Aeterna will refurbish the craft between launches. (The design appears to involve the ability to fold the satellite bus structure so that it fits safely behind the heat shield.) To be sure, he has plenty of experience in the satellite world. In addition to working on Starlink at SpaceX, Taylor also worked on Amazon's Kuiper satellite program, and at space infrastructure startup Loft Orbital. The plan for Delphi is to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2027, perform a full orbital flight, and then come back down to Earth. Then Lux Aeterna wants to do that all over again to prove out Delphi's reusability. From there, Taylor said his team is working on a larger production vehicle that will demonstrate far greater reusability. Despite decades of spaceflight innovation, Taylor said he believes the industry is still very young, which leaves plenty of opportunity for a company like Lux Aeterna to establish a long-running business. 'It's not to the maturity level of [computer] chips. It's not at the maturity level of automotive,' he said. Satellite reusability will help change that. And while Taylor is committed to that cause, he said he's thrilled about all the things he can't imagine that will exist in a space-based economy. 'We don't know what we don't know is going to come,' he said. 'That's probably the most exciting part.'
