Astra Enters Orbit; Shares Soar 17.2%

Recently, Astra Space, Inc. (ASTR), an American launch vehicle company, concluded its first commercial orbital launch for the United States Space Force. The launch was contracted through a Defense Innovation Unit Other Transaction Agreement.

Following the news, shares of the company closed 17.2% higher on Monday.

The launch, STP-27AD2, took place from Astra’s Kodiak Spaceport that is located at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska.

The orbital placement of the test payload to an inclination of 86.0 degrees at an altitude of 500 km was shown through Astra’s launch system. Notably, the payload recorded an orbital velocity of 7.61 kilometers per second in 8 minutes and 47 seconds. (See Astra Space stock charts on TipRanks)

CEO Comments

The CEO of Astra Space, Chris Kemp, said, “Reaching orbit is a historic milestone for Astra. We can now focus on delivering for our customers and scaling up rocket production and launch cadence.”

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Background

In just five years, Astra successfully “learned its way” to orbit, launch by launch, increasing capabilities, decreasing costs, and increasing operational efficiencies with each iteration, the company said in a release.

Wall Street’s Take

On November 22, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu maintained a Buy rating and a price target of $13 (16.38% upside potential) on the stock.

Overall, the stock has a Hold consensus rating based on 1 Buy and 1 Sell. The average Astra Space price target of $11 implies 1.5% downside potential to current levels. Shares have increased 11.9% over the past year.

Risk Analysis

According to the new TipRanks’ Risk Factors tool, ASTR’s main risk category is Finance and Corporate, which accounts for 83% of the total 75 risks identified for the stock.