Astronomy Prints 🌌: Editor's Choice: A settling-in period for the space markets

07/15/2026

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By Mike Gruss

It’s been about one month since SpaceX’s IPO.

In the lead-up to the event, the sale was described as a potentially transformational moment for the space industry, in part because of what it could mean for SpaceX to the tune of $85.7 billion in proceeds at a valuation of around $1.8 trillion, and in part for what it could mean for other companies by attracting the attention of investors who don’t ordinarily think about the space sector.

In a report this week, Space Capital wrote that the IPO was “the bridge we’ve been building toward: the connective tissue between the space economy and public markets, where durable value gets unlocked.” (Space Capital was an early SpaceX investor.)

But how's that been going for the other publicly traded space stocks the last couple of weeks? The short answer is: not great.

Intuitive Machines, York Space Systems, Redwire, Firefly, Rocket Lab and Voyager are all down about 25% or more in the past month. AST Space Mobile, Planet and MDA, which recently announced it would acquire French data analytics company CLS, are all down more than 10%.

Yes, there are a few winners as well, Iridium, which is being acquired by Rocket Lab, and Viasat are both up during that time period. But broadly it’s been a rough month.

So what to make of it?

I emailed Micah Walter-Range, president of Caelus Partners, for some perspective. He’s a contributor to the VettaFi network which runs the space-based ETF with the catchy ticker UFO.

In the past month, UFO is down about 13%. Walter-Range noted that many of the space companies I listed above “experienced a significant run-up as part of the wave of enthusiasm that the SpaceX IPO stirred up, so this could be seen as a correction for that exuberance.”

For example, Redwire is up 10% year to date. Rocket Lab’s stock has jumped about 84% in the last 12 months. Planet is up 25%.

Shares in the Procure Space ETF have risen roughly 16.5% year to date vs the S&P 500 being up about 10.5%. Not bad.

“The space industry … is still doing quite well overall since its last low point about two years ago,” he wrote.

A month is a short period of time for publicly traded companies. Combined with the Space Capital report that said investment in satellite companies reached $8.1 billion in the first half of 2026, already surpassing every previous annual total the firm tracked, the optimism from the first half of the year is well documented.

This next period may be “more a settling-in as everyone (companies and investors) tries to find their footing in the new environment,” Walter-Range wrote.

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SIGNIFICANT DIGIT

9

The number of mission-focused Portfolio Acquisition Executives the Space Force created as part of its overhaul of its acquisition organization to oversee the buying, integration and modernization of the military’s space capabilities.

Liftoff of the first Long March 10B rocket from Hainan, July 10, 2026. Credit: CASC

REUSABLE CHINESE ROCKETS

China launched its Long March 10B rocket early Friday and successfully recovered the first stage, marking a huge step for the country’s reusable rocket efforts.

The first Long March 10B rocket lifted off at 12:15 a.m. Eastern (0415 UTC) July 10 from Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site on the southern island province of Hainan. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed the successful recovery of the rocket’s first stage 11 minutes later, using a sea platform equipped with a net capture system.

Videos emerging in the minutes following showed a controlled, powered descent with black smoke billowing from the top of the first stage, followed by capture by the Linghang Zhe (“navigator”) sea recovery vessel, with hooks deployed from the booster caught by a tensioned net. The recovery occurred six minutes after separation of the first and second stages.

The successful recovery means CASC join U.S. companies SpaceX and Blue Origin in achieving recovery of an orbital booster.

Trending This Week

Pet technology company Fi launched a dog tracker July 8 that uses T-Mobile’s Starlink-enabled T-Satellite service. Arf!

The U.S. Space Force widened the field of companies eligible to compete for national security launch contracts, adding launch startup Relativity Space and orbital transportation company Impulse Space to a roster of commercial providers as it looks to diversify how military satellites reach orbit. Also, Impulse Space does not build launch vehicles.

Jason Rainbow asked a good question about the importance of space heritage: essentially, whether capital and hired expertise can make up for a lack of a track record. As one analyst said, “If it doesn’t fly, we won’t buy.”

The Federal Communications Commission has given its approval for a satellite that will test the ability to reflect sunlight into nighttime regions, a project sharply criticized by astronomers and environmentalists.

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