Shares of Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ: RKLB) plunged more than 25% last week, marking the worst weekly performance in the company’s history as investors absorbed multiple negative developments simultaneously.
The stock closed Friday at $50.84, down nearly 8% for the session alone, extending a losing streak that stretched to eight consecutive sessions.
The eight-day slide wiped out approximately 38% of RKLB’s value from its October 7 close, a dramatic reversal for a stock that had been among the most closely watched names in the commercial space sector.
The selloff accelerated after Rocket Lab confirmed that the inaugural flight of its Neutron reusable rocket has been pushed into 2027, abandoning a previous fourth-quarter 2026 target that investors had been counting on.
The latest setback stems from manufacturing defects discovered in a carbon-composite first-stage propellant tank component, a technical problem that raised fresh concerns about the program’s longer-term development timeline.
Neutron is central to Rocket Lab’s ambitions to compete for larger commercial constellation launches and national-security missions, making any delay particularly damaging to investor confidence.
Adding to the pressure, AST SpaceMobile’s spectrum partner Ligado Networks filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission urging regulators to scrutinize Rocket Lab’s proposed $8 billion acquisition of Iridium Communications.
Ligado accused Iridium of weaponizing FCC procedures to obstruct competing satellite services, including Ligado’s own SkyTerra Next offering developed in partnership with AST SpaceMobile. “Iridium has long used the FCC’s procedures as an anticompetitive weapon,” Ligado’s lawyers stated in the filing.
Ligado argued that the acquisition could entrench those incentives further, given the strategic value of Iridium’s L-band spectrum holdings. “While Rocket Lab and Iridium tout MSS competition as the core public interest benefit of the acquisition, Iridium’s own conduct suggests its modus operandi at the FCC for decades has been to suppress rather than promote competition,” Ligado said.
The filing also drew on criticism from SpaceX, citing an August submission in which the company accused Iridium of repeatedly impeding rivals. “Iridium exploits Commission procedure to deny or delay its competitors from providing better service to millions of American consumers, businesses, and first responders,” SpaceX said in the filing quoted by Ligado.
According to Ligado’s letter, SpaceX documented more than 50 petitions to deny filed by Iridium over an eight-month period, a volume Ligado argued consumes FCC staff resources and delays innovation across the industry.
Ligado urged the FCC to condition its review on whether Iridium withdraws filings Ligado characterizes as deliberately obstructive. “Accordingly, we urge the Commission to carefully scrutinize the transaction to ensure that the parties’ intent and incentives align with the public interest,” its lawyers said.
The Iridium deal, announced in June, was valued at an enterprise value of $8 billion and would combine Rocket Lab’s launch and spacecraft-manufacturing operations with Iridium’s established global communications network and more than 2.55 million active subscribers.
Rocket Lab confirmed in September that it had fully financed the acquisition, including through $1.94 billion in gross proceeds from a share sale, with Iridium shareholders also approving the transaction that month, leaving completion targeted for mid-2027.
The FCC has set a procedural timetable calling for responses and oppositions by October 30, followed by replies on November 9, which will provide the next formal opportunity for the applicants to address competitive concerns raised in the proceeding.
Despite the steep decline, retail sentiment on Stocktwits shifted to “bullish” from “neutral” levels seen a week earlier, accompanied by high message volume, suggesting some traders view the sell-off as a potential entry point.
One user commented, “We all knew the launch was going to be pushed out, we all knew the stock would tank when the news came out. However, this has now created a setup for the mother of all short squeezes when the actual launch date is announced.”
Another user offered a longer-term perspective, writing, “My logic for holding is that the company has wisely diversified its revenue stream and what just happened with Neutron is really an R&D cost which isn’t capped.”
RKLB stock has declined 27% year-to-date, leaving the company facing significant pressure to demonstrate progress on both the Neutron program and the Iridium regulatory approval process in the months ahead.
