Key Highlights

  • SpaceX ranked among the top gainers in the Nasdaq-100 on Friday after completing three launches across October 1 and 2, with every reported tally showing a strong gain despite varying figures.
  • The three missions were Crew-13, a crewed flight to the International Space Station that docked in record time; Transporter-18, a rideshare carrying 130 payloads from California; and NROL-97, a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload on a Falcon Heavy.
  • The launch streak followed Starship Flight 14's first successful orbital flight earlier in the week, carrying 26 Starlink V3 satellites as a useful payload.
  • Planet Labs rallied after launching 20 satellites on the Transporter-18 mission, including a prototype for Google's Project Suncatcher, while Rocket Lab led the Nasdaq-100 on separate news.

SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) shares soared on Friday, October 2, as investors cheered a remarkable burst of launch activity: three missions in about 13 hours spanning astronauts, satellites and a classified national-security payload. SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket and satellite-internet company, ranked among the top gainers in the Nasdaq-100. Reports varied on the size of the move, with different sources publishing different figures at different times, but every tally showed a strong gain.

Three Launches, One Busy Day

SpaceX completed three launches across October 1 and 2: Crew-13, a crewed mission to the International Space Station, which docked in record time; Transporter-18, a rideshare mission from California carrying 130 payloads; and NROL-97, a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, launched on a Falcon Heavy from Florida.

Crew-13 commander Jessica Watkins said after arriving: It is hard to believe that we're already here, but we are super glad to be here.

Why Launch Cadence Matters

For SpaceX, the pace of launches is a key Business metric. The company earns money from carrying satellites and crews to orbit, and it also launches its own Starlink internet satellites. Flying frequently shows the reusable-rocket model working at scale and helps spread fixed costs over more missions. Pulling off a crewed flight, a heavy national-security launch and a 130-payload rideshare within such a short window also showcases the breadth of the company's customer base, from astronaut flights and national-security agencies to commercial satellite operators.

The streak followed another milestone earlier in the week. On Monday, Starship Flight 14 made its first successful orbital flight carrying a useful payload, 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Starship is the giant next-generation rocket meant to carry much heavier loads.

Ripple Effects Across Space Stocks

The Transporter-18 mission had a direct winner. Planet Labs rallied after it launched 20 satellites on the flight, including a prototype for Google's Project Suncatcher.

Rocket Lab led the Nasdaq-100 after unveiling its largest-ever commercial Electron deal and winning a Buy rating from Citi, and other space names such as Redwire and Intuitive Machines also climbed.

A Friendly Market Backdrop

The wider market helped too. A weak September jobs report, with 29,000 jobs added against expectations of about 84,000, reduced bets that the Federal Reserve will raise rates again at its October 27-28 meeting. The Fed hiked on September 16, its first increase since 2023.

Lower rate expectations tend to favour growth companies, and investors bid up technology and space names. The Nasdaq-100 closed at a record 30,807.93, up 306.37 points, and Nvidia hit a record high during the session.

Not everything pointed the same way. Treasury yields reversed to close higher after an early drop, with the 10-year finishing near its highest level since 2002. Newly listed, high-profile stocks like SpaceX can also be prone to large daily swings in either direction.

Starship's Next Steps Are the Thing to Watch

Investors will watch Crew-13's mission on the space station and the next steps for Starship after its successful orbital flight. Further Starlink deployments and the pace of commercial rideshare launches will be key signals of how quickly SpaceX can grow. More broadly, the Federal Reserve's October 27-28 meeting will influence the appetite for high-growth stocks, and third-quarter Earnings season begins with PepsiCo on October 8 and Delta on October 9.