Space stocks are splitting sharply this Friday morning after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a hotfire test late Thursday at Cape Canaveral. AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) stock is down 17% to $111, while Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) stock has dropped 8% to roughly $47.50 and Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB | RKLB Price Prediction) stock has slipped 6% to $139.
Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) stock is the outlier, rallying 11% to $5. The suborbital tourism operator competes directly with Blue Origin’s New Shepard program, and traders appear to be treating today’s setback as a relative win for the SPCE story.
All four names came into the session with serious cushions to give back. AST SpaceMobile stock was up 83% year to date (YTD), Planet Labs stock was up 161% YTD, Rocket Lab stock was up 112% YTD, and Virgin Galactic stock was up 41% YTD. That kind of run sets the stage for a violent unwind when a sector catalyst breaks the wrong way.
New Glenn Hotfire Explosion Sets the Tone
The catalyst itself is concrete. Blue Origin’s New Glenn vehicle suffered an anomaly at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station around 9 p.m. Thursday during a hotfire test, where the engines ignite while the rocket is strapped to the pad. No injuries were reported.
The rocket was preparing for the Leo New Glenn 1 mission next week, carrying Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Project Kuiper satellites. The blast also raises timeline questions for NASA’s Artemis program, since the Blue Moon Mark 2 lunar lander was scheduled to launch on New Glenn next year.
Founder Jeff Bezos addressed the loss directly, stating, “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman visited Kennedy Space Center today, signaling that federal scrutiny will be heavy.
Why Launch-Exposed Names Are Getting Hit
AST SpaceMobile uses SpaceX Falcon 9 as its primary launch provider, with BlueBirds 8-10 targeted for mid-June. There is no confirmed Blue Origin launch contract tied to AST SpaceMobile’s near-term manifest, so the ASTS reaction reads as broader sector sentiment risk and a reminder that multi-vendor launch capacity matters when a major provider hits a wall.
Planet Labs faces a similar read-through. The company depends on commercial launch providers to deploy its Earth-observation fleet, and any tightening of available capacity raises constellation refresh risk. Pair that with PL stock’s triple-digit YTD gain, and profit-taking becomes an easy decision for fast money.
Rocket Lab is more nuanced. RKLB stock could eventually benefit from any extended New Glenn grounding, since Rocket Lab competes in medium-lift work and is preparing its Neutron debut. However, the prediction market crowd has leaned bearish into today, with Polymarket assigning a 97% probability that RKLB closes down on May 29.
Virgin Galactic Bucks the Trend
SPCE stock is rallying on a different read. Virgin Galactic’s suborbital business sits closest to Blue Origin’s New Shepard tourism program, and any pause in Blue Origin operations could realistically shift customer interest toward the Virgin Galactic manifest. Reddit sentiment around the name remained a bullish 78 throughout the event window, with retail discussion driven by a single dominant WallStreetBets thread.
The financial backdrop is still thin. Virgin Galactic’s Q1 2026 revenue was just $227,000, and the company is targeting flight testing in Q3 2026 and first commercial spaceflight in Q4 2026. In any case, it appears that the SPCE move today is sentiment-driven.
What to Watch From Here
The next informational events will be hard to miss. Investors can look for official Blue Origin and FAA statements on the cause of the anomaly, any read-through to the Artemis 3 timeline, and confirmation that AST SpaceMobile’s mid-June BlueBird launch on Falcon 9 stays on track. A clean Falcon 9 mission could quickly stabilize ASTS sentiment.
For Rocket Lab, the question is whether Neutron program commentary picks up share-shift narrative as the Blue Origin investigation unfolds. For Virgin Galactic, watch for whether the SPCE bid holds into the close or fades as the initial competitive reaction cools.
With every one of these names sitting on triple-digit or near-triple-digit YTD gains, the path of least resistance for the rest of Friday may be continued rotation. Cautious investors can watch for whether today’s share-price moves persist into Monday’s session.
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