Bloomberg
• Edward Ludlow
SpaceX heads into its first post-IPO earnings report as employee and insider lockups expire, creating a fresh test for its private-market valuation. Short interest has reached an estimated $23.6 billion, exceeding Tesla’s, while investor enthusiasm around Elon Musk’s companies faces renewed scrutiny.
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SpaceX heads into its first post-IPO earnings report as employee and insider lockups expire, creating a fresh test for its private-market valuation. Short interest has reached an estimated $23.6 billion, exceeding Tesla’s, while investor enthusiasm around Elon Musk’s companies faces renewed scrutiny.
SpaceX plans to launch the National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-95 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Rocket Lab also secured up to $266 million from the U.S. Space Force for as many as 18 suborbital missile-defense launches from Alaska.
Amazon has filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission to operate a direct-to-device network in low Earth orbit, targeting a constellation sized at more than 5,000 satellites. The filing signals Amazon’s entry into the direct-to-device satellite communications race and escalates competitive pressure in LEO broadband.
The U.S. Space Force has awarded Rocket Lab a $266 million multi-launch contract for suborbital missile-defense testing under its Rocket Systems Launch Program. The deal covers 12 missions over three years, with an option for up to six additional launches, starting no earlier than late 2026 from a new launch pad at Kodiak, Alaska.
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ESA has awarded ispace-EUROPE an execution contract for the second phase of the MAGPIE (Mission for Advanced Geophysics and Polar Ice Exploration) program. The agreement advances ESA’s lunar polar ice exploration efforts through the next development and delivery step under the broader MAGPIE contract structure.
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Roscosmos and NASA confirmed the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft returned safely on July 26, 2026, bringing Expedition 74’s joint U.S.-Russian crew—NASA astronaut Chris Williams plus Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev—down to Kazakhstan after 241 days aboard the ISS. Expedition 75 is set to run into spring 2027.
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