Blue Origin failure highlights how hard it is to get to spaceand the value of Rocket Lab Getting to space is hard, which is one big reason why companies that make it look easy are worth so much. Rocket Lab stock is Exhibit 1.Over the weekend, Jeff Bezos rocket company Blue Origin failed to put an AST SpaceMobile satellite into the correct orbit, resulting in the loss of the satellite.

Shares of AST fell 5.3% on Monday. The incident means it will take longer for it to build a space-based communications satellite constellation.Shares of Rocket Lab gained 5.5%, closing at $89.46, while the SP 500 fell 0.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished flat.

Rocket Lab is one of the companies that can get things into space, launching into orbit 18 times in 2025. SpaceX, of course, dominate orbital launch services. It launched more than 160 times in 2025. Blue Origin launched twice. The failed AST launch was number three for its New Glenn rocket.Stifel analyst Erik Rasmussen continues to have high conviction in the name given its strong position as a leading pureplay space company, with consistent revenue growth, a sizeable and growing backlog, and the forthcoming debut of its Neutron rocket later this year.

Neutron is Rocket Labs larger rocket capable of putting about 13,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit. Its smaller Electron rocket puts about 300 kilograms into orbit.Rocket Lab is a well-positioned, vertically integrated space prime with differentiated products across a growing set of opportunities, with exposure to government, hypersonics, [defense], and next-generation space infrastructure, added Rasmussen in a Sunday report. The company continues to evolve from a launch provider into an innovative NewSpace operator, offering end-to-end capabilities across launch, satellites, components and subsystems, and advanced communications.He rates shares Buy and increased his target price to $105 from $90 on Sunday.

That new target values Rocket Lab for almost 80 times estimated 2026 sales. Its a big valuation, but not a lot of companies can do what Rocket Lab does.

SpaceX is planning a midyear IPO that could value the stock at $2 trillion, or about 80 times estimated 2026 sales.

Maybe 80 times sales is just what successful rocket companies trade at.