Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Sends Space Stocks Tumbling. ASTS Plunges Over 14%, SpaceX IPO Valuation Rumored to Be Cut to $1.8 Trillion.

Tradingkey - The U.S. aerospace industry suffered a major setback, and stocks in the space sector were under pressure across the board. As of press time, AST SpaceMobile ( ASTS) fell 14.57%, Momentus ( MNTS) dropped 12.99%, Telesat ( TSAT) fell 7.40%, Firefly Aerospace ( FLY) dropped 6.61%, Viasat ( VSAT) fell 6.25%.

On the news front, media reports indicate that Blue Origin's uncrewed New Glenn rocket suffered a catastrophic explosion on its launch pad at a Florida Space Force base on Thursday night, and the company's only launch pad was also severely damaged.

The incident has sent shockwaves through the U.S. aerospace community, as it could not only prevent Blue Origin from executing launch missions for months or even longer but also seriously threaten the established timeline of NASA's Artemis moon landing program.

As of press time, Blue Origin has not yet released any telemetry data or launch pad surveillance footage, and the specific cause of the explosion is still under investigation. Officials confirmed that the launch area had been fully evacuated before the explosion, and no casualties were caused by this accident.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon (AMZN) and owner of Blue Origin, immediately issued a statement on the X platform: "It's too early to determine the root cause of the accident, but we have fully launched our investigation. This has been an incredibly difficult day, but we will rebuild all damaged facilities and return to the launch site as soon as possible. It is all worth it."

Furthermore, sources familiar with the matter revealed that Elon Musk's SpaceX recently set a target valuation of at least $1.8 trillion for its initial public offering (IPO). This valuation is a $200 billion reduction from the $2 trillion valuation previously reported by Bloomberg. The aforementioned sources said the company lowered this target after consultations with advisors and investors.

The sources also pointed out that discussions are still ongoing, and the company may raise the target valuation based on investor feedback during the roadshow. A SpaceX spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

It should be noted that Musk responded "False" on the X platform on Friday to an account citing a Bloomberg News report regarding SpaceX's lowered valuation target.