SpaceX’s Valuation Tops $200B, Signs $1B NASA Contract to Remove ISS

Elon Musk attends the Atreju happening organized by the Italian far right Fratelli d'Italia governate party" width="970" height="635" data-caption='SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has hinted at taking Starlink public when its business stabilizes. <span class="media-credit">Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu via Getty Images</span>'>

Elon Musk’s SpaceX just got another valuation bump. The privately-owned rocket and satellite manufacturer is selling insider shares at a price that would value the company at closer to $210 billion, Bloomberg reported yesterday (June 26). At that valuation, SpaceX is worth about a third of Musk’s other main business, Tesla, and ranks as the second most valuable private company in the world, behind TikTok parent ByteDance ($268 billion).

SpaceX’s private-market valuation has soared from $36 billion in early 2020 to where it is today. The company was last valued at $180 billion in December 2023 and, before that, $150 billion in July 2023, based on the prices of inside shares transacted.

SpaceX makes two main products: rockets and satellites (through its Starlink division). The company makes money by providing launch services to government and commercial clients and monthly internet service through its Starlink satellite constellations. These two business units might have drawn in $8.7 billion in total revenue in 2023, more than double the year prior, according to a January estimate by Payload Space, a space industry newsletter founded by former JPMorgan analyst Mo Islam.

Musk has said he might spin off Starlink as a separate, publicly traded company once it reaches “predictable” cash flow. SpaceX didn’t respond to an inquiry to confirm its 2023 revenue figure or its latest valuation.

SpaceX signs a $1 billion ISS contract with NASA

Today, SpaceX struck a $1 billion contract with NASA to develop a spacecraft that will steer the International Space Station out of orbit when it’s ready to retire in the next few years. 

The ISS, in operation since 2004, is expected to retire before the end of this decade When it’s time, the giant spacecraft, approximately the size of a football field, will first de-orbit from its course at about 250 miles above Earth and eventually crash into the planet’s atmosphere and burn up.

SpaceX has famously built the Crew Dragon spacecraft for NASA for regularly sending astronauts to the ISS for extended stays. NASA has also commissioned Boeing (BA) to build a similar spacecraft but the aerospace giant has yet to deliver a working vehicle.

“Selecting a U.S. Deorbit Vehicle for the International Space Station will help NASA and its international partners ensure a safe and responsible transition in low Earth orbit at the end of station operations,” Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said in a statement. “The orbital laboratory remains a blueprint for science, exploration, and partnerships in space for the benefit of all.”