Astra Space now publically tradable on the NASDAQ

Starting today Astra Space shares are live on the NASDAQ after merging with the special purpose acquisition company Holicity. Astra planes to use the money to grow their rocket production facilities and team.

Astra Space goes public

The rocket builder based out of Alameda, California became publicly tradable on the NASDAQ today. Astra CEO Chris Kemp and members of the company even rang the bell at the opening of the market this morning.

The merger with the SPAC Holicity grossed them almost $500 million dollars in new capital that the company has said they will reinvest in production growth. Astra has already grown its leadership team a great deal over the last year and now plans to build out their production lines.

Today @Astra became a public company, the next milestone in our mission to improve life on Earth from space! Thank you to our team, customers and investors who got us here. https://t.co/3pobPyVXLN #AdAstra $ASTR pic.twitter.com/39etYYbzri

— Chris Kemp (@Kemp) July 1, 2021

Building towards a daily launch goal

Currently, Astra has launched their smallsat rocket twice, the second of which made it to space but sadly not into orbit. The success of getting so close on their second launch makes the company confident that their next mission, possibly slated for this summer, will fly a customer’s payload.

The capital created from the merger and trading shares will be used to increase their current production capabilities. They have the goal to produce a rocket every month by the end of this year and have a total of 15 launches for 2022. By 2025, Astra wants to have the capability to launch every day to support the growing smallsat market.

Astra is competing with the likes of Virgin Orbit, Rocket Lab, and more but is in the position to become a dominant player in the smallsat field. Their cheap rocket and lack of being locked into busy spaceports like Cape Canaveral open up their future possibilities.

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