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To Infinity and Beyond |
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The Latin phrase ad astra per aspera translates as “to the stars through difficulties.” At trying times like these, many people still look up for hope, and on Monday at least they got some. |
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NASA’s Artemis II mission, which is sending four astronauts around the moon on a rocket taller than the Statue of Liberty, broke a more than 50-year old record this afternoon, as my colleague Al Root reports. Its four occupants, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, have now been farther from Earth than any other humans in history, at 253,000 miles away, eclipsing Apollo 13’s distance in 1970. |
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If that seems too esoteric a milestone for a financial newsletter, it’s worth noting that investors have some reason to cheer too. Per Al’s article: |
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They weren’t the only beneficiaries however. Virgin Galactic Holdings got a boost too, as Barron’s Nate Wolf writes. Some are hopeful that Artemis’s success bodes well for the space-travel company founded by English billionaire Richard Branson, leading to a nearly 25% rally in the stock. |
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The move Monday may be an extension of last week when Virgin Galactic announced it would resume commercial suborbital flights late this year. The company is selling 50 tickets for $750,000 a pop, up from a past fee of $600,000, and it expects to raise prices further as additional tickets become available. |
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The 50 new customers will join 650 existing “astronauts,” as Virgin Galactic calls them, in the company’s backlog. The company last completed a spaceflight in 2024. |
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The restart of commercial missions with a mothership and two Delta spaceships opens up the potential for $450 million in annual revenue across 125 flights, analysts at Jefferies said. Virgin Galactic is targeting the release of a second launch vehicle, with two more Delta spacecraft, by 2030. |
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This comes after last week’s news that SpaceX is seeking an initial public offering valuation of $2 trillion. |
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“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars,” wrote Oscar Wilde. And some see dollar signs. |
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The Calendar |
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Levi Strauss reports first-quarter fiscal-2026 earnings on Tuesday. |
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The Census Bureau releases the durable goods report for February. The consensus call is for a 1% month-over-month decline for new orders for durable manufactured goods to $318 billion. |
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What We’re Reading Today |
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Barron’s Live returns on Monday. Barron’s Live features timely and actionable insights for investors. We give you behind-the-scenes conversations with the newsroom, connecting you with our editors and reporters covering the markets, the economy, and more. |
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