New York, June 11, 2026, 18:02 EDT
- AST SpaceMobile jumped 11.73% to finish at $97.56 on Thursday, snapping a two-day losing streak.
- AST SpaceMobile set a June 17 launch date for BlueBird satellites 8, 9 and 10, with Falcon 9 taking off from Cape Canaveral.
- The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.54% on the day, which gave some lift to high-growth tech and space stocks.
AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) jumped Thursday with traders moving back in before the satellite-to-smartphone broadband firm’s next launch window. Shares finished at $97.56, up $10.24, or 11.73%. The stock traded from $86.92 to $98.10 in the regular session. At 5:44 p.m. EDT, ASTS was quoted at $101.00 in after-hours, Stock Analysis data show.
ASTS bounced back Thursday after sliding 3.64% on June 9 and dropping another 1.57% on June 10. The move wiped out most of those recent losses. Broader markets were stronger too, with the Nasdaq Composite up 2.54% to 25,809.66. MarketWatch said several space stocks, including AST SpaceMobile, saw after-hours gains as SpaceX trading neared.
AST SpaceMobile’s launch update set for June 9 is the next near-term driver. The company is looking at a Wednesday, June 17 launch for BlueBird 8, 9 and 10 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Falcon 9. Liftoff is aimed at 2:39 a.m. EDT, with more launch windows open until 4:15 a.m. EDT.
AST SpaceMobile president Scott Wisniewski called the next launch “another important milestone” for the company as it works to roll out its space-based cellular broadband network. In its announcement, the company said the mission is set to support voice, data, and video for commercial and government communications, with service running on unmodified, standard smartphones. Business Wire
AST SpaceMobile’s upcoming BlueBird satellites are expected to add capacity to its direct-to-device broadband network, with the company saying new units will nearly double top data rates compared to the initial Block 1 satellites. The first Block 1 BlueBirds recently hit 98.9 Mbps peak download speeds direct to regular smartphones. AST said BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 each have commercial communications arrays around 2,400 square feet, matching the in-orbit BlueBird 6.
Execution risk is still a major issue for the stock. Back in April, Reuters said Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket managed to land its reusable booster, but it didn’t get AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite to the target orbit. AST said then the satellite was too low to work and would need to be de-orbited. Reuters also reported BlueBird 8 to 10 could be ready to ship in about a month. That puts next week’s Falcon 9 mission in focus for AST’s launch schedule.
AST SpaceMobile’s investment story still depends on its push to turn satellite launches into actual service coverage and revenue. In the latest quarter, the company kept its full-year revenue target at $150 million to $200 million, posted $14.7 million in first-quarter revenue, and said it had around $3.5 billion in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash as of March 31. It’s aiming for about 45 BlueBird satellites in orbit in 2026, according to its first-quarter update.
