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SPCX $153.23 NEW · RKLB ▼15.7% · ASTS ▼2.4% · LUNR ▼10.0% · PL ▼5.9% · RDW ▼16.1% · SPCX ▲14% VS IPO · SPCX $153.23 NEW · RKLB ▼15.7% · ASTS ▼2.4% · LUNR ▼10.0% · PL ▼5.9% · RDW ▼16.1% · SPCX ▲14% VS IPO
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Markets · The Money Side of Space
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// ISSUE 001 · SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2026
The Business of Space is Booming!
Welcome to our first ever Space Money Markets edition. People have been fascinated by space forever, but the business world is finally taking notice and the money is flowing. With this edition, we want to give you a front-row seat to the action. Every other Sunday, we'll send you:
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our favorite articles
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the movement of the most popular stocks
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what's happening on those wild betting apps
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where the money is orbiting in the industry
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It's getting wild, and there's seemingly endless money, so let's go see how much of it space is getting.
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★ Founding offer
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Early members lock in Pilot at the founding rate, get the Tuesday email, the Space Money Markets on Sundays, and 10% off the shop. Thanks for your support!
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// 01 · WHAT WE'RE READING
The Cash Chronicles
Image: NASA
World Economic Forum · 5 min read
The World Economic Forum lays out the three commercial trends driving the space market right now. A clean, big-picture read on where the money is heading and why, the frame behind everything else in this issue.
Read it →
Image: NASA
GovCon Wire · 3 min read
NASA lifted the ceiling on its commercial lunar program to $4.2 billion. The agency pays private companies to land the cargo instead of building the landers itself. That's a standing order for anyone who can pull it off, and the whole reason Intuitive Machines exists.
Read it →
Image: NASA
CNBC · 4 min read
The stock cooled this month, but the hiring across the space economy didn't. Even with all the AI talk, there aren't enough engineers and technicians to go around. Even SpaceX flagged it as a risk in its IPO filing:
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“We depend on our ability to recruit and retain employees who have advanced engineering and technical skills, and intense competition for such employees may increase costs and affect our ability to meet development and production timelines.”
SpaceX S-1 filing
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Read it →
Image: NASA
Maury Blackman · 4 min read
Tech exec and investor Maury Blackman argues the SpaceX listing is to the space economy what Netscape's IPO was to the internet: the moment the public markets start taking the whole sector seriously, and the capital pours in behind it.
Read it →
Image: Mesh Optical Technologies
TechCrunch · 4 min read
The FTC fast-tracked SpaceX's purchase of Mesh, founded by three ex-SpaceX engineers who built the laser links between Starlink satellites. They raised $50 million from Thrive in February. Now SpaceX wants them, and their 1.6-terabit optical tech, back in-house.
Read it →
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// 02 · WHO MOVED
The Board
SpaceX priced at $135, opened at $150, and closed its first day worth more than Tesla. Every other space stock on the board sold off hard in the same stretch, which is an interesting twist. Money that crowded into the small public names ahead of the listing rotated out into SPCX once it was tradable. The only green on the board is SPCX, and only if you measure from its IPO price. This week, even it slipped.
Move ·
▼ down
▲ up
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SPCX
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▲14% IPO
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RDW
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▼16.1%
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RKLB
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▼15.7%
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LUNR
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▼10.0%
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PL
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▼5.9%
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ASTS
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▼2.4%
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Bar length = size of the move. Public names this week; SPCX since its $135 IPO.
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Ticker
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Company
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Last
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Week
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SPCX
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SpaceX
(new)
Rockets plus the Starlink internet business. Just IPO'd as the most valuable space company.
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$153.23
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▲14% vs IPO
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RKLB
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Rocket Lab
Launches small rockets, building a bigger reusable one called Neutron.
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$84.54
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▼ 15.7%
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ASTS
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AST SpaceMobile
Satellites that act as cell towers, beaming straight to regular phones.
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$71.45
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▼ 2.4%
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LUNR
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Intuitive Machines
Builds Moon landers and lunar delivery services for NASA.
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$19.79
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▼ 10.0%
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PL
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Planet Labs
Photographs the whole Earth every day and sells the imagery.
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$27.07
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▼ 5.9%
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RDW
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Redwire
Makes the parts and structures other spacecraft are built from.
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$10.93
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▼ 16.1%
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// 03 · THE BIG NUMBER
$75B
Raised in the SpaceX IPO · the largest ever
SpaceX sold 555.6 million shares at $135 and raised $75 billion, more than triple Alibaba's old record.
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// Dinner table nugget
Below is a timeline of SpaceX's money-raising, from day one.
Fun question for friends: what year did Elon found SpaceX, and what was his initial investment?
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SpaceX funding history · company filings & press reports
Bonus: want the full breakdown of the IPO and what it means for the rest of us?
Read it on SmartAsset →
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// the number that didn't make the headline
$2.2B. While everyone watched SPCX, Rocket Lab quietly sat on a $2.2 billion order backlog with revenue up 64% year over year. Real bookings, real customers. The stock fell 16% this week anyway.
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// 04 · THE ODDS
Where the Bets Are
Live odds from Polymarket
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No human walks on the Moon in 2026
· Polymarket
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SpaceX is the largest IPO of 2026
· Polymarket
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Fewer than 5 Starship flights reach space in 2026
· Polymarket
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SpaceX lands 140–159 total launches in 2026
· Polymarket
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SpaceX IPO closed between $2.0T and $2.5T
· RESOLVED YES ≈$2.1T
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The tell: for all the Moon-base headlines, the market is 96% confident that no boots are walking on the Moon this year. Artemis II flew a crewed loop in April, but the landing slipped to 2028. The smart money is betting on satellites and subscriptions, not boots unfortunately.
Trade these on Polymarket →
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// 05 · WHO'S BUYING
Smart Money
Cathie Wood bought the dip. She runs ARK Invest, the firm known for loud, high-conviction bets on disruptive tech. ARK scooped up 210,121 SPCX shares across four funds, about $32.5 million, on day-two weakness. This is the same Cathie who sold completely out of Rocket Lab last year. She's bullish on SpaceX (and Elon), but not on space stocks broadly.
The next IPOs are still private. Anduril is raising toward a roughly $60 billion valuation, which is double last year's. Stoke Space closed an $860 million round, and Impulse Space added $300 million. The pattern: late-stage mega-rounds are replacing the IPO as the way reusable-rocket companies raise. For now, staying private is working, so they're in no rush to follow SpaceX onto the market.
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// 06 · FOLLOW THE MONEY
Where the Money Orbits
How to read this: we rank each segment by the capital that actually showed up this cycle, the June SpaceX IPO plus the venture rounds and contracts on The Deal Sheet below. It's a directional read of where the biggest checks landed, not a fund-flow index.
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Launch
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HOT
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Defense
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HOT
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Satcom
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WARM
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In-space mobility
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WARM
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Earth observation
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COOL
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Lunar
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COLD
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| Launch · getting rockets and payloads to orbit.
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| Defense · military and national-security work in space.
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| Satcom · satellite internet and phone coverage beamed from orbit.
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| In-space mobility · moving and servicing satellites once they're up there.
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| Earth observation · imaging and monitoring the planet from above.
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| Lunar · landers, payloads, and gear headed for the Moon.
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// Sources: SEC filings and disclosed funding rounds, June 2026.
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// 07 · CAPITAL FLOWS
The Deal Sheet
EQUITIES
Smaller names cashed in on the IPO buzz. Momentus (MNTS) sold shares to raise about $25 million, part of roughly $85 million it pulled together to refill its balance sheet, now debt-free. The SpaceX listing made it easy for small names to raise cheap stock.
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VENTURE
Anduril toward ~$60B, Stoke Space $860M, Impulse Space $300M. The private launch-and-defense table is raising IPO-sized rounds without the IPO.
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STATE CAPITAL
China's Shanghai-backed Qianfan constellation keeps adding broadband satellites on the reusable Long March 12B. Government money is racing Starlink, and it doesn't need an IPO.
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CONTRACTS
Amazon keeps flying Project Kuiper satellites across SpaceX, ULA and others, precisely so a single grounded pad can't stall the whole deployment.
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// 08 · WHAT TO WATCH
Catalyst Calendar
Recent raises & what's ahead
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FEB
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Mesh raised a $50M Series A, the ex-SpaceX optical startup SpaceX is now buying.
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MAY 6
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Astranis raised $450M (equity plus debt) at a $2.8B valuation, pushing its total past $1.2B.
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JUN 11
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SpaceX priced its IPO at $135, raising $75B. The largest in history.
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JUN 15
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Momentus raised about $25M and went debt-free.
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JUL–AUG
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Starship Flight 13 return-to-flight, pending the FAA mishap review of the V3 booster anomaly.
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AUG 6
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Rocket Lab Q2 earnings. Watch Neutron progress and the $2.2B backlog.
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H2 2026
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AST SpaceMobile's next BlueBird batch, on the way to ~45 satellites in orbit by year-end.
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DEC 8
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SPCX 180-day lockup fully expires, the last early-holder shares free to sell. A first chunk can unlock right after August earnings.
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// FROM THE CHANNEL
Why the Space Economy Will Make Trillionaires
Worth a watch. Watch on YouTube →
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// Pip's picks
Which companies to bet on
a one-eyed alien's calls. still not financial advice.
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PIP BUYS SPCX
“Even though I'm a bit worried about the pro-forma book value per share of the deal, I'd still bet on the leader. You get Starlink, a fast-growing internet business with millions of subscribers, plus the best rockets on the planet behind it. Bet on the winner.”
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PIP BUYS RKLB
“Rocket Lab fell 16% this week and still has real customers and a $2.2 billion backlog. Pip buys the dip.”
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PIP FADES THE MOON
“The people want a Moon landing. Pip wants some company. But I agree, especially with the recent Artemis news, no earthling is touching the Moon this year. I'll still be visiting, just in case.”
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Pip is a one-eyed alien, not a financial advisor. This is not investment advice. Pip is not licensed, not human, and has only ever seen one side of a trade.
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// 09 · THE SHORT CASE
The Cautious Side of the Cash
A lot of these articles can read like pitch decks, so we want to avoid diving in head first without caution. The whole public sector fell 8 to 10 percent the week SpaceX listed, which tells you that as much as we want to be objective: emotion, story, hype, and most of all Elon, matter. Even deal structure can be hidden in hype. The space economy is real, and as we said at the top, we think business is boomin', but there's risk to getting in early with potentially overpriced valuations and money going so many different directions. We're being patient to see how it all plays out. One thing we do know though, the next few years are going to be wild!
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That's the money side of space, every other Sunday. As Pip reminded you, we aren't advisors, we're just curious. This first version was free for everyone. If you're a Pilot, we'll see you again in two weeks.
— Sean, Ted and the Space Race team
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THE SPACE
RACE
This is journalism, not investment advice. We track the money. You make your own calls. We're not your financial advisor and we don't pretend to be.
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The Space Race · Markets Issue 001 · Sunday, June 28, 2026
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