EL7.AI
StocksMedium•24 September 2026•
1 min read

Rocket Lab Shares Rise 4.7% in Space-Stock Rally; Its Spot on $981M Space Force Program Dates to July

Key Facts

1Rocket Lab shares closed at $73.61 on September 24, 2026, up 4.7% from $70.31, as other space stocks also gained.
2Space Systems Command announced on July 31, 2026 that 15 companies, including Rocket Lab, were selected for the NITE-STAR multiple-award contract with a shared $981 million ceiling over two five-year ordering periods.

Rocket Lab (RKLB) shares rose 4.7% on Thursday, September 24, 2026, closing at $73.61 against $70.31 in the previous session after trading between $68.92 and $75.46. The gain came as buying spread across space stocks: Planet Labs rose 7.6%, Firefly Aerospace 5.4% and BlackSky 4.1%, while the SPY fund tracking the S&P 500 ended little changed.

Benzinga linked the move to Rocket Lab's place on the U.S. Space Force's NITE-STAR program, but that selection is not new: Space Systems Command named the 15 companies on July 31, 2026, and Rocket Lab announced its own selection on August 17. The program returned to the headlines on Thursday after Redwire announced that it, too, had been selected.

NITE-STAR is a multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract whose $981 million ceiling covers two five-year ordering periods and is shared by all 15 awardees, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris. The selection makes Rocket Lab eligible to compete for task orders, and money flows only when the Space Force issues them.

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