Rocket Lab's stock surged after securing a $266 million launch services contract with the U.S. Space Force, which includes 12 suborbital launches and potentially six more. The first launch is planned for 2026. Despite this positive news, Rocket Lab's stock had previously fallen 8% this year, influenced by market volatility surrounding SpaceX's IPO. The contract signifies the Space Force's trust in Rocket Lab's capabilities to meet urgent national security needs. The announcement generated a positive response in the stock market, contrasting with recent declines in SpaceX's stock value.

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Can a $266 Million Defense Deal Help Rocket Lab Escape SpaceX’s Shadow?

By Al Root

Updated July 27, 2026, 4:15 pm EDT / Original July 27, 2026, 7:16 am EDT

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Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck poses with a company rocket. Coming into Monday, Rocket Lab stock has fallen 8% this year. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

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Rocket Lab stock rose after the company was awarded a $266 million launch services contract with the U.S. Space Force.
The missile-defense contract includes 12 suborbital launches, with up to six additional launches, and the first launch is expected in 2026.
Before Monday, Rocket Lab stock had fallen 8% this year, driven in part by volatility surrounding a SpaceX initial public offering.

Rocket Lab

RKLB\ \ +4.74% stock jumped Monday after the company announced a new business win.

Shares of the so-called mini- SpaceX

SPCX\ \ -1.36%, which has launch and satellite services like Elon Musk’s larger rocket company, traded as high as $68.34 and closed at $66.94 on Monday, up 4.7% for the session. In comparison, the S&P 500 SPX\ \ +0.02% and Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA\ \ +0.51% rose less than 0.1% and 0.5%, respectively.

The move came after Rocket Lab announcedExternal link it was awarded a $266 million launch services contract with the U.S. Space Force for missile defense. The contract includes 12 suborbital launches, with up to six additional launches. The first launch is expected in 2026.

“The size and scale of this contract reflects the Space Force’s confidence in our ability to meet their urgent national security demands with speed, responsiveness, and scale, and we’re proud to provide the high-frequency launch capacity required to keep the U.S. ahead of global threats,” said Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck in a news release.

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Along with Space Force, the overall market was helping Rocket Lab and most other shares. Stock futures gained after the U.S. paused attacks on Iran and oil prices retreated. International benchmark crude oil prices were falling almost 5% to about $82 per barrel in early trading.

Coming into Monday, Rocket Lab stock has fallen 8% this year to $63.91 a share. The stock was at $151 earlier in the year.

SpaceX is responsible for most of that volatility. Many space-related stocks ran up into SpaceX’s record-setting initial public offering only to sell off later.

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SpaceX priced its IPO at $135, valuing Musk’s rocket and artificial-intelligence company at about $1.8 trillion. It had traded as high as $225.64 before falling to $115.07 entering Monday’s trading. That change has wiped out about $1.5 trillion in market value, and took SpaceX stock from a valuation of about 75 times estimated 2026 sales to 40 times.

Rocket Lab stock traded for 95 times estimated 2026 sales in May, weeks before the SpaceX IPO. Now shares fetch 42 times.

SpaceX essentially created the modern space economy, and sector shares follow its lead. Of course, each company has its own business, as Rocket Lab’s announcement Monday showed.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.comExternal link

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SpaceX Stock Falls After ‘Near Perfect’ 13th Starship Test. Flight 14 Will Be Wild.

By Al Root

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SPCX

SPX

DJIA

SpaceX stock dropped 7% this past week, the stock's third consecutive weekly decline. (AFP via Getty Images)

SpaceX stock rose a little in early trading on Monday, but gains vanished just like the vapor trails from the company’s latest Starship test flight, which went off without a glitch.

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SpaceX Lands With a Thud

By Elijah Nicholson-Messmer

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(Illustration by Elias Stein)

Just over a month since its initial public offering, SpaceX has delivered one of the weakest post-debut performances of any major U.S. listing since the end of the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

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Rocket Lab Stock: Can a $266 Million Defense Deal Help It Escape SpaceX’s Shadow?

Can a $266 Million Defense Deal Help Rocket Lab Escape SpaceX’s Shadow?

SpaceX Stock Falls After ‘Near Perfect’ 13th Starship Test. Flight 14 Will Be Wild.

SpaceX Lands With a Thud