Boeing Wins $2B MUOS Award, SpaceX Prices $25B Debt Sale, Starliner-1 Slips

The Space Force handed Boeing a contract worth up to $2 billion to build two more Mobile User Objective System satellites, displacing original prime Lockheed Martin on one of the Pentagon's most heavily used narrowband networks. Space Systems Command said the new spacecraft will launch no earlier than 2031 and 2032 and extend MUOS through 2035, bringing the constellation to seven satellites. Boeing and Lockheed had each won $66 million Phase 1 design contracts last year, and the Space Force's FY27 budget request carries $856 million in MUOS R&D, with a total of $2.6 billion programmed through 2031.

SpaceX followed its record IPO with a $25 billion senior unsecured notes sale after taking in close to $90 billion in orders, upsizing from an initial $20 billion target. Notes priced across five tranches maturing 2031 to 2056 at coupons between 5.35% and 6.65%, with proceeds earmarked to repay a $20 billion bridge loan struck in March. SpaceX disclosed $100.8 billion in cash and equivalents as of June 19. The stock closed nearly 1% higher Tuesday, snapping a three-session slide that had taken the market cap below $2 trillion and shares briefly under the $150 first-trade price.

Elsewhere, NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said the Starliner-1 uncrewed target remains under review while Boeing closes out propulsion issues from the 2024 Crew Flight Test, leaving return-to-flight as much as a year away. MDA Space won subcontracts from Mitsubishi Electric for the digital payload, antennas and subsystems on Japan's new defense communications satellite, a DSN-2 replacement adding to MDA's backlog. NASA's Inspector General warned Kennedy and Wallops will hit capacity in 2028 to 2029, needing at least $1 billion in upgrades as Blue Origin projects more than 50 New Glenn launches a year by 2030.