The shares of space companies registered in the United States have skyrocketed Tuesday (May 28) after not trading over the Memorial Day long weekend.
The Motley Fool reported that Virgin Galactic, AST SpaceMobile, and Rocket Lab skyrocketed significantly.
Virgin Galactic is the big winner among the space firms after it increased by 22%. MarketWatch reported that the massive increase in stock value has been influenced by the Swiss National Bank and other investors buying an undisclosed increased amount of Virgin Galactic stocks during the first quarter of 2024.
Virgin Galactic's tourist spacecraft VSS Unity is scheduled to make its retirement flight next month in order for the company to focus on its next-generation "Delta-class" spacecraft.
Space Companies' Stocks Skyrocketing
On the other hand, AST SpaceMobile gained 6.3%, demonstrating its continued investor enthusiasm regarding the contract it signed with AT&T last week regarding the rollout of satellite-to-cellphone commercial service to support places unreachable by AT&T's cellular coverage.
Advanced Television added that AST would also be preparing to launch five BlueWalker communication satellites this summer to initiate the service.
Meanwhile, the market value of Rocket Lab, a New Zealander-American space firm, was bolstered after launching one of NASA's two PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment) satellites over the weekend. The satellites were projected to fly on a polar Earth orbit to observe how the planet absorbs heat over the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
The company said that the second PREFIRE satellite's launch is "just days away."
Every launch is spectacular, but the ones carrying satellites to enable climate science for @NASA are extra special. #ReadyAimPREFIRE successfully launched the first of two PREFIRE CubeSats to orbit, helping researchers study Earth’s heat loss to space from the polar regions.… pic.twitter.com/5ZqmVqlmu4
— Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) May 27, 2024
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