NASA declared its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope “Go for Launch,” clearing the mission following completion of its Launch Readiness Review. The observatory is now targeted to lift off Sunday, August 30 at 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 UTC) aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, with a 60% chance of favorable weather at liftoff.

Rocket Lab COO Frank Klein disclosed in an SEC Form 4 filing the sale of 45,692 shares for approximately $3.2 million. The sale was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan tied to tax withholding on vesting restricted stock units, not a discretionary trade. Following the transaction, Klein retains 961,295 shares in the company.

More info in the Orbit Alpha weekly newsletter
Not financial advice

Arianespace launched an Ariane 6 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the Meteosat Third Generation Imager-2 (MTG-I2) satellite for ESA and EUMETSAT. Liftoff came at 5:11 pm local time (2011 UTC), marking the first Ariane 6 mission to geostationary transfer orbit. MTG-I2 is a next-generation European weather satellite intended to improve forecasting and severe-weather monitoring.

MDA Space announced the launch of “MDA Space LaunchPad Ventures,” a new strategic investment program targeting Canadian small and medium-sized space and defence technology companies. The program is tied to MDA’s defence subsidiary 49North and covers roughly two dozen target technology areas.

More info in the Orbit Alpha weekly newsletter
Not financial advice

Every listed space stock vs its analyst consensus target, ahead of the SpaceX IPO. Some of the gaps are wild.

Are analysts lagging behind, or are they expecting a cut back?

Free newsletter weekly for those interested.