SpaceX Trounces Boeing and Lockheed as Space Force Hands Out $13 Billion in Launch Contracts
There are a lot of space company winners in this new space launch contract, but only two losers: Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Don't look now, but space is about to get a whole lot more crowded.
From 2022 through 2027, the second phase of Space Force's National Security Space Launch program (NSSL-2) initially included 25 planned space launch missions and about $5.5 billion in contracts, split roughly 60-40 between United Launch Alliance, or ULA, a joint venture between Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), and SpaceX, Elon Musk's privately held space company. (Although both the number and the value has since grown.)
With still two years left to go before NSSL-2 wraps up, however, earlier this month the Space Force announced the winners of a new series of contracts for the third phase of NSSL, NSSL-3, which will run from 2027 through 2032. Despite being the same duration as NSSL-2, however, NSSL-3 is going to involve even more space launches -- and a whole lot more money.
