What happened?
Spaceflight Inc. is a global launch services provider. It is a division from Japanese industrial giant Mitsui & Co.
Spaceflight Inc. is not a publicly traded company with a stock market that would benefit from this announcement, but Astra Space, a start-up defense contractor, is, and its stock price just did -- profit.
What are you waiting for?
Astra Space and Spaceflight are not the only space companies.
Simply put, the two Spaceflight spaceships used in the SXRS-5 mission were "orbital transportation vehicles" (OTVs). These small rocket ships can act as space tugs and carry cargo to their orbits. They also have the ability to carry satellites on missions beyond Earth orbit.
Spaceflight had two OTVs, one a Sherpa FX tug which can move up to 14 satellites simultaneously. Spaceflight's Sherpa LTE craft was the other. It is powered by electric propulsion from Apollo Fusion. Astra Space also owns Apollo Fusion.
What now?
Hopefully, you now see the connection.
Spaceflight had previously contracted Apollo Fusion to develop an electric spacecraft engine to allow its Sherpa LTE spacecraft to transport payloads to extremely high Earth orbits. This would also enable it to travel beyond Earth on interplanetary missions. Astra purchased Apollo Fusion in July 2021, before the thruster had been tested on an operational mission. It has now done it for the first ever time!
Astra Space stock has soared a triple-lucky 7.77% as of Tuesday afternoon at 3:37 p.m. ET.
