Photo: Astra Space

The founders of smallsat launcher Astra Space completed a deal to take the company private on July 18. Astra Space was one of the companies to go public in the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) boom of 2021 but ran into financial trouble. 

Co-founders CEO Chris Kemp and CTO Dr. Adam London acquired all shares of Astra stock not already owned by it for $0.50 per share. The plan to go private was announced in March, when the founders said it was the only alternative to bankruptcy. 

Astra became the first launch company to be publicly traded on the Nasdaq when it went public in the SPAC boom of 2021, at a valuation of $2.1 billion. At the time, Kemp told Via Satellite that Astra was the “perfect” candidate to take advantage of a SPAC and said the company planned to ramp up to monthly launches at the end of 2021.

Astra successfully reached orbit twice, but encountered financial difficulties after two launch failures forced the company to suspend launches. 

The company performed a stock split in September 2023 to raise its share price over $1, but its stock price fell again and it received another deficiency notice in April 2024.