On May 7, Rocket Lab reported what CEO Peter Beck called "blown-through ceilings across all of the most important metrics." Q1 revenue came in at $200.3M — a 63.5% year-over-year jump that cleared Wall Street's $189.7M estimate by a wide margin. The space systems segment brought in $136.7M (up 57.2%) while launch services contributed $63.7M (up 78.9%).

The company's backlog more than doubled year-over-year to $2.2B, rising 20% sequentially. More striking: Rocket Lab booked more launches in the first three months of 2026 than in all of 2025 — with 31 new Electron and HASTE contracts plus five dedicated Neutron missions signed in Q1 alone. The total launch manifest now exceeds 70 contracted missions. CNBC noted shares blasted 34% on earnings day, their best single day ever, and climbed further to close around $117 by May 11.

Alongside earnings, the company announced its largest launch contract in history — a bulk multi-launch deal for an undisclosed customer covering five Neutron and three Electron missions from 2026–2029. Rocket Lab also disclosed it has been selected by Raytheon to support the U.S. Space Force's Space-Based Interceptor program under Golden Dome (more on that below), and announced a deal with Anduril Industries for multiple hypersonic test flights using HASTE.

For Q2 2026, management guided revenue of $225M–$240M — yet another record. The Neutron medium-lift rocket remains on track for debut later this year with engine qualification and first-flight hardware integration underway.

TheStreet noted veteran analysts are doubling down, though the central question has now shifted from "can it go up?" to "how much is already priced in?" at these levels.

Mission profile is deliberately conservative: both booster and ship are targeting ocean splashdown rather than a tower catch. SpaceX is prioritizing architecture validation over pushing for the booster-return milestones Flight 11 demonstrated. Ship 40 has already begun testing for Flight 13, signaling a faster cadence than any prior phase of the program.

The Congressional Budget Office dropped a stunning estimate on Tuesday: President Trump's Golden Dome missile shield could cost $1.2 trillion over 20 years, with acquisition costs alone topping $1 trillion. The space-based interceptor (SBI) layer — a constellation of nearly 7,800 satellites — accounts for roughly 70% of that total.

The Space Force has already moved fast. In late April, it revealed the 12 companies awarded contracts worth up to $3.2B for SBI prototype development — a roster that reads like a who's-who of public and private space defense: SpaceX, Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC), RTX/Raytheon, General Dynamics Mission Systems (GD), Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), Anduril Industries, True Anomaly, Turion Space, SciTec (a Firefly subsidiary), GITAI USA, and Quindar.

Long-term production contracts from Golden Dome are projected to generate between $1.8B and $3.4B annually. The Pentagon has already requested nearly $400M for Golden Dome in the FY2027 base budget and proposed $17B+ in supplemental reconciliation funding — $4.5B of that earmarked for space programs.

The CBO caveat: the system may not be able to handle a full-scale attack from Russia or China. That said, the stated goal is primarily deterrence against North Korea and regional threats. Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein has pushed back on the cost estimates, arguing the CBO "is not estimating what I'm building."

For investors, the Golden Dome wave is repricing smaller space companies with SBI exposure. CEO Peter Beck went as far as saying Rocket Lab is now positioned "in the center of America's defense architecture for the next big wave of spending."

SpaceX has confirmed May 19 as the target date for Starship Flight 12 — the debut of Version 3. This is the most anticipated Starship flight since the program began. V3 introduces meaningful structural upgrades: the Super Heavy booster now uses three grid fins instead of four, with each fin 50% larger and significantly stronger for improved recovery and reuse. The entire stack is standing on Launch Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas — also making its debut.

Booster 19 completed a successful 33-engine full-duration static fire last month. The fully stacked vehicle underwent a propellant load test on May 11, loading over 5,000 tonnes of propellant on Ship 39 and Booster 19. Space.com has full details on the hardware changes.

SpaceX is not publicly traded, but Starship progress directly impacts publicly held players. A successful V3 flight accelerates the entire launch market — validating high-cadence heavy-lift reuse — and puts pressure on ULA, Arianespace, and Blue Origin. It also de-risks SpaceX's Artemis commitments with NASA, NASA being a major source of revenue for the broader new-space ecosystem.

Watch the live webcast at @SpaceX on X, beginning approximately 30 minutes before liftoff on May 19.

AST SpaceMobile reported Q1 on May 11 and shares dropped roughly 11% in the aftermath. Revenue of $14.74M was a fraction of the $37.5M consensus; the net loss widened to $191M or $0.66/share versus an expected -$0.21. The miss was attributed to gateway deployment timing and delayed government milestones, not structural weakness — at least according to management.

The genuinely important news: the FCC officially authorized commercial SpaceMobile Service in the United States with Supplemental Coverage from Space for direct-to-device broadband. This removes a major regulatory overhang that had surrounded the story for years. BlueBird 8, 9, and 10 are slated for a Falcon 9 launch in mid-June, with satellites BB11 through BB33 in advanced production and assembly. CEO Abel Avellan reiterated the company is targeting 45 satellites in orbit by end of 2026.

The company holds over $3.9B in pro forma cash and liquidity and has $1.2B+ in contracted revenue commitments from telecom partners including AT&T, Verizon, and Rakuten Mobile. Full-year 2026 guidance of $150–200M was kept intact. Seeking Alpha's bull case argues the selloff is a timing misread, not a thesis breaker.

ASTS also highlighted its positioning around Golden Dome — including military communications, tactical satellite systems, and space-based radar capabilities. This is a high-risk, high-reward name. If the June launch goes smoothly and commercial service scales in H2 2026, the Q1 miss becomes a footnote.