Viasat jumps after Falcon Heavy successfully launches ViaSat-3 F3 satellite
VSAT•Viasat shares rose as investors reacted to the successful Falcon Heavy launch of the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite on April 29, 2026. The mission completes the company’s ViaSat-3 constellation buildout, easing near-term execution risk around its global capacity expansion.
1. What’s moving the stock
Viasat (VSAT) is higher in Thursday trading after the company’s ViaSat-3 F3 satellite was successfully launched to orbit on April 29, 2026 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. The move is being treated as a key de-risking event because F3 is the final spacecraft in the ViaSat-3 tri-satellite constellation, which is designed to materially expand Viasat’s high-throughput network capacity and geographic coverage, particularly across Asia-Pacific.
2. Why the launch matters
ViaSat-3 F3 is designed to add more than 1 Tbps of throughput over the Asia-Pacific region, and its launch completes the constellation that management has positioned as a cornerstone of its unified global network. With the final satellite now in space, investor focus shifts from launch execution to in-orbit testing, orbit raising, payload commissioning and ramp to service—steps that historically can be a major value driver (or risk) for satellite operators.
3. What happens next
After launch, the satellite is expected to spend months using electric propulsion to reach geostationary orbit, followed by in-orbit testing before entering service. Viasat has indicated an expected in-service timing of late summer 2026 for ViaSat-3 F3, meaning the market will likely watch for milestone updates around spacecraft health, deployments, and commissioning progress as the next catalysts.
