Help Wanted: SpaceX and ULA Need Not Apply
The rumors were true. The U.S. Space Force is changing how it awards space launch contracts -- and for a certain segment of the space stock market, this is very good news indeed.
For the past six months, rumors have swirled about a major shakeup in the Space Force's National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program. Inaugurated in 2018 with $2.2 billion in government subsidies to design and build a fleet of new space rockets, then expanded in 2020 into a $5.5 billion launch procurement program funding rocket launches through 2027, NSSL is gearing up now to award billions of dollars of new "Phase 3" contracts for government space launch services.
Unlike in previous competitions, however, the new contracts will be divided into two "lanes," one for up-and-coming rocket launch companies like Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ: VORB), and Blue Origin, and a second for big incumbent space launch providers such as SpaceX, Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT).
Source Fool.com
