Rocket Lab climbs on $266 million US Space Force contract

Shares of Rocket Lab RKLB.O rose 4.4% to $66.73 in premarket trading after the space services firm announced it had been awarded a $266 million multi-launch contract with the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command’s Rocket Systems Launch Program.

Under the contract, RKLB will execute 12 suborbital launches, with up to six additional launches, with the first launch expected to take place no earlier than the end of 2026.

Peter Beck, founder and CEO, said: “The size and scale of this contract reflects the Space Force’s confidence in our ability to meet their urgent national security demands with speed, responsiveness, and scale.”

As of the last close, RKLB was down 8.39% year to date.