Shares of Rocket Lab USA ( RKLB 28.44%) are flying on Tuesday. The stock is up 28.3% as of 2 p.m. ET but was up as much as 31.8% earlier in the day. The leap comes as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9% and 0.6%, respectively.

President Donald Trump set a bold new goal in his inauguration speech. He wants to go to Mars—and space stocks Rocket Lab USA, Intuitive Machines, Redwire to the moon. Details are thin, but the aspiration should benefit Elon Musk’s SpaceX and a bevy of publicly traded commercial space stocks.

I believe that Rocket Lab remains a buy, even after the RKLB stock prices have risen over 400% since my earliest report on Rocket Lab post-IPO. See more here.

In 2023, Rocket Lab launched 10 times, but in 2024 the New Zealand-U.S. rocket company turned that dial to 16, making for some really easy math: Rocket Lab grew its launch cadence 60%, and thus exceeded SpaceX's 41% growth.

Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB), a global leader in launch services and space systems, saw its stock jump 28% in Tuesday’s trading following a significant announcement regarding a new agreement with NASA. The space company revealed that it will provide Neutron launch services to NASA under the agency’s existing Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract.