(CNN) — Firefly Aerospace, the first private company to successfully land upright on the moon, is set to make another high-stakes foray — this time into the stock market.
Firefly’s stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq Thursday morning under the ticker symbol “FLY.”
Founded in 2017 by ex-SpaceX engineer Tom Markusic, the company reached a valuation of more than $6 billion in its initial public offering — triple what it achieved as a privately held company, according to financial documents and estimates from startup data aggregator Pitchbook.
Firefly raised more than $868 million, with shares priced at $45 a piece, according to a news release. Much of those funds could be used to fuel the company’s ambitious next steps, which include plans to land the first US spacecraft on the far side of the moon as soon as 2026.
Firefly also has a mid-size rocket in its development pipeline as well as plans to debut a spacecraft that can provide maintenance and move other satellites through orbit.
“There’s so much demand right now from national security and space exploration and commercial customers that we want to supercharge and accelerate that growth by rating up our production lines even faster,” Firefly CEO Jason Kim told CNN.
The stock market debut comes in the wake of the company’s high-profile moon landing success in March. Investors also appear to have an appetite for IPOs at the moment, noted Andrew Chanin, the CEO of the investment firm ProcureAM.
“This is kind of a time when all the planets are aligned,” Kim said of the IPO timing.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost spacecraft, a robotic vehicle roughly the size of a small car, made history with its pristine upright touchdown on the lunar surface in March — succeeding where several other private space companies had failed before.
That mission, carried out on behalf of NASA under a $102 million contract, was only the first in a series that Firefly plans to undertake over the next several years as the US space agency aims to establish a permanent settlement on the moon under its Artemis program.
Moon missions, rockets and space tugs
Firefly hopes as soon as next year to send one of its Blue Ghost vehicles to the far side of the moon, where only China — the United States’ main rival in the modern space race — has successfully sent a lander.
The company’s other lines of business include Alpha, the rocket it has flown since 2021 to mixed success, as well as a scaled-up version of the launch vehicle that Firefly is co-developing with Northrop Grumman, called Eclipse. Firefly also plans to debut its “space-tug,” called Elytra, which can provide in-space services such as moving satellites between orbits, this year.
“It’s a positive sign that they’re not just singularly focused on the moon,” Chanin noted.
Firefly’s rockets in particular may prove to be an attractive asset, according to Chanin. Some satellite makers and other space companies abroad have been looking to avoid relying on SpaceX, which has dominated the global launch market for years, in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, he explained. That conflicted led to an incident in which satellites owned by a European company were effectively trapped on a Russian rocket, spurring European nations and businesses “to find other solutions, whether that’s developing them our own or finding other potential partners,” Chanin said.
Space companies have had a tough time in the public markets in the past. Rockets, satellites and other space hardware tend to be extremely expensive to build and highly risky to operate — both factors that can spook investors.
That’s one reason some of the space industry’s most visible leaders have been billionaires who can self-fund their ambitions. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has famously said he will not take the company public anytime soon because he wants to pursue outlandish goals like colonizing Mars while remaining free of public market pressures.
But Firefly could be served well by going public if the company can use the cash influx wisely, Chanin noted.
“Things can happen pretty quickly for space companies that can boost their outlook or harm it,” Chanin added, referring to unexpected development hangups or mission failures that are inevitable in the risky world of spaceflight.
“Being able to bring in cash and build out what they’re working on,” Chanin said, “as well as give them a cushion in case of rainy days ahead is something that they can take advantage of by raising capital now.”
Kim said he intends to be up-front about Firefly’s triumphs and struggles in order to foster trust with investors.
“This company is always open and transparent, even through successes and anomalies, and I think that’s really helped us gain a lot of support and advocacy from the public,” Kim said.
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
