The final trading week of December 2025 tells two very different stories. Rocket Lab USA (RKLB) closed at an estimated $55.20 per share - more than double where it started the year. The New Zealand-born launch provider’s Neutron rocket was stacking contracts from NASA and commercial clients, finally turning years of promises into projected positive cash flow for 2026.
Then there’s SLAM Corp. Lynk Global’s would-be SPAC partner got delisted from Nasdaq back in August 2024 after shareholders voted with their feet - 99.2% redemptions carved a $1 billion trust down to $23.4 million. The deal officially died in July 2025 amid mutual lawsuits, each side blaming the other for misrepresentations and hidden liquidity problems. Today, SLAM trades over-the-counter at pennies on the dollar. Investors who bought the SPAC dream at $10 saw their principal evaporate.
This split defines 2025’s space SPAC landscape. Around $15 billion poured into these vehicles during the 2020-2022 boom, when special purpose acquisition companies felt like the fast lane to public markets. By year-end 2025, the results broke hard: top survivors delivered 100-250% gains, while the median zombie lost somewhere between 60% and 95%. What made the difference? Let’s unpack the playbook, the failures, and what it means heading into 2026.
Infrastructure Over Hype
Space SPACs that thrived in 2025 shared a few unmistakable traits. They had recurring revenue contracts - the kind where NASA or the Department of Defense writes checks every quarter. They hit milestones on time. And crucially, they’d moved beyond the “we’re going to disrupt the entire launch industry” narrative into something more boring and bankable: steady execution.
