NASA really is lighting the candle on April Fools’ Day – and no, this isn’t a meme or a prank. Humanity is actually going back to the moon tonight, and it’s being live streamed by NASA.
The Artemis II mission is a roughly 10‑day loop around the moon and back, designed to prove that Orion capsule can keep a crew alive and talking in deep space, then survive the violent re‑entry back through Earth’s atmosphere.
If it works, NASA can move ahead with Artemis III, the mission that aims to put humans back on the lunar surface.
Unlike Apollo, which was largely about planting a flag, Artemis is explicitly about building repeatable infrastructure: transport, landers, power, communications and long‑term operations in cislunar space.
That shift creates a multi‑year spending pipeline, with NASA and the Pentagon anchoring demand and a growing roster of for‑profit companies doing the heavy lifting ….
And, of course, whenever Uncle Sam opens the ol’ checkbook … potentially billions of dollars start flowing toward investors who are well positioned. .
With that in mind, here are three ways to play Space Race 2.0 …
Mega Cap: SpaceX
SpaceX sits at the center of almost every serious conversation about launch, satellite broadband, and deep‑space logistics.
Recent reporting suggests the company is weighing a 2026 IPO that could value it around $1.5–1.75 trillion, with tens of billions raised in what would likely be the largest stock market listing in history by proceeds.
Those numbers rest on a business that already generates double‑digit billions in annual revenue, driven by the Falcon launch business and Starlink’s fast‑growing broadband network.
But access is the problem.
SpaceX remains private, and most investors cannot buy its shares directly.
One of the few liquid ways to get indirect exposure is through the ERShares Private–Public Crossover ETF, ticker XOVR.
The fund holds a mix of public growth equities, but it also has a dedicated private‑equity sleeve, and SpaceX is the dominant position in that private bucket.
Filings and third‑party analysis indicate that XOVR’s SpaceX stake has accounted for a high‑single‑digit to low‑double‑digit percentage of fund assets, at times climbing higher as valuation marks are updated.
For an investor building a diversified “space tech” portfolio, XOVR is one of the few ways the average investor can get SpaceX exposure before its IPO.
The trade‑off is that you’re accepting valuation risk on a private company and active‑manager risk on the public holdings in exchange for a seat at the table if the rumored record‑breaking IPO materializes.
Mid-Cap: Rocket Lab (RKLB)
Step down from the mega‑cap narrative and you reach Rocket Lab, one of the only publicly traded companies that regularly builds and launches rockets while also selling satellites and mission hardware.
Its Electron rocket has become a frequent small‑sat launch vehicle, and the company is developing Neutron, a larger medium‑lift system aimed at higher‑value missions.
Rocket Lab’s business is split between launch services and a “space systems” segment that provides spacecraft, components and mission services to government and commercial customers.
In 2025, the company reported roughly $602 million in revenue, up about 38% percent year‑over‑year, with guidance pointing to continued strong growth into 2026.
The flip side is that Rocket Lab remains unprofitable on an adjusted basis, with management acknowledging ongoing losses as it invests in Neutron and national security capabilities.
In an Artemis‑driven world where more payloads are heading not just to low‑Earth orbit but eventually into lunar and cislunar trajectories, a mid‑cap like Rocket Lab offers direct operating leverage to launch cadence and satellite deployment.
It is not as diversified or entrenched as SpaceX, and its smaller scale means higher volatility, but for a diversified “space tech” portfolio structure, it fits neatly as the growth engine sitting just below the mega‑cap anchor.
Small Cap: Redwire (RDW)
At the small‑cap end of the spectrum, infrastructure becomes the story.
Redwire does not operate rockets; it builds the critical hardware that rides on them and supports missions once in space.
Its offerings include deployable structures, power systems, avionics and in‑space manufacturing technologies used across NASA exploration initiatives, defense payloads and commercial satellites.
Financially, Redwire has been moving from an acquisition‑driven roll‑up toward a more coherent operator.
The company reported about $335.4 million in revenue for 2025, a year‑over‑year increase of just over 10%, with fourth‑quarter growth exceeding 50% as new contracts ramped.
Management cited a backlog around $411 million and a book‑to‑bill ratio above one, supporting guidance for 2026 revenue in the $450–500 million range. Its market capitalization, in the ballpark of $1.6–1.8 billion dollars, keeps it firmly in small‑cap territory.
Because Redwire sells into multiple end‑markets—NASA exploration, national security, and commercial operators—it offers a way to bet on the build‑out of space infrastructure without tying everything to a single launch platform.
The risks are what you’d expect from a small contractor: execution on integration, sensitivity to government budgets, and meaningful share‑price volatility.
In “risk and reward” framing, Redwire is squarely in the high-risk, high-potential-reward category: a high‑beta complement sized appropriately within a broader allocation.
Wild Card: Starfighters Space (FJET)
If you want a genuine “swing for the fences” name to round out this space basket, Starfighters Space (FJET) is about as pure a “space tech” play as it gets – and in a good way.
The company operates out of Kennedy Space Center with a fleet of modified F‑104 supersonic aircraft capable of sustained Mach 2, and it’s positioning those jets as reusable air‑launch and high‑speed test platforms rather than museum pieces.
The vision is straightforward but differentiated: use proven, piloted aircraft to carry payloads to high altitude, then air‑launch small rockets or test vehicles, while also selling high‑speed flight, hypersonic R&D, and training services to defense and commercial customers.
That gives FJET something many tiny space names lack: a tangible, already‑flying asset base and a business model that lines up cleanly with where defense and space spending are headed.
If the company can keep turning technical credibility at Kennedy into more contracts with prime contractors, government programs, and commercial partners, the operational leverage from a relatively fixed fleet and growing utilization could be powerful.
In an Artemis‑era “new space” portfolio, this is the name that could surprise to the upside if management executes and the market starts to price in a real niche around hypersonic testing and air‑launch.
Putting Artemis in a Portfolio Context
On launch night, it’s easy to focus on the euphoria of the launch: the countdown, the ignition, the voice over the loop calling “liftoff.”
And, at the risk of editorializing, you absolutely should get pumped up.
Artemis II deserves that attention — it is, in fact, historic.
But the bigger story for investors is that this mission is part of a deliberate shift toward sustained human activity beyond low‑Earth orbit, with implications that stretch across launch, satellite networks, defense and industrial infrastructure.
The April Fools’ timing makes for an easy headline, but the underlying trend is anything but a joke. The question is less whether capital will flow into space over the next decade, and more how you want your own exposure to ride along.
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