New York, May 16, 2026, 11:10 EDT
- Tema Space Innovators ETF ended Friday at $34.51, off 3.9% on the day. Still, it gained 7.5% for the week from its May 8 close.
- The fund reported $707.3 million in assets as of May 15. Rocket Lab made up 11.0% of holdings, with SpaceX SPV exposure at 7.3%.
- NYSE Arca trades during its regular core session from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. The next full session is on Monday, May 18. Memorial Day isn’t until May 25.
Tema Space Innovators ETF comes into Monday with less uncertainty than last week. The fund dropped 3.9% on Friday. Now it’s a choice between simple profit-taking after a quick rally or the beginning of a deeper move away from space stocks.
SpaceX is moving closer to the public market, putting it on the radar for NASA investors. Reuters said Friday that Elon Musk’s company is targeting a Nasdaq listing as soon as June 12. The prospectus could come out next week, with an investor roadshow set for June 4 and shares possibly pricing on June 11. SpaceX is looking to raise about $75 billion at a $1.75 trillion valuation, Reuters reported, which would make it the largest IPO on record.
NASA’s connection is direct but capped. The ETF owns SpaceX using an SPV, or special purpose vehicle, which lets it hold private shares before they list. So any SpaceX filing update matters for the fund. NASA also holds public space stocks that trade daily.
SpaceX shareholders signed off on a 5-for-1 stock split, Bloomberg News said, cited by Reuters. The move drops the fair-market value of SpaceX shares to $105.32, down from $526.59, with the split due to hit the week of May 18.
NASA’s public holdings took most of the hit Friday. Barchart data had Rocket Lab falling 5.9%, Planet Labs off 3.3% and Intuitive Machines dropping 7.2%. AST SpaceMobile was up 0.8%. All are core positions in the ETF, not fringe names, and make up the small group investors turn to as a stand-in for the bigger commercial-space trade.
NASA’s advantage still sets it apart. Barron’s, using Morningstar figures, reported the Tema fund is the only space ETF that gets direct pre-IPO SpaceX exposure. Competitors like Procure Space ETF, State Street’s ROKT, and Roundhill’s MARS have moved on SpaceX buzz too, but don’t have a private stake.
Tema made the case at launch. “SpaceX stands apart as the defining company of the space economy,” Tema’s chief investment officer Yuri Khodjamirian said in March. He said NASA aimed to give investors “a transparent, actively managed vehicle” to access SpaceX and the wider space ecosystem. Tema ETFs
Weekend break is giving traders a chance to figure out signal and noise. Space stocks fell Friday as the SpaceX IPO got closer, MarketWatch said. Procure Space ETF dropped about 3%, NASA lost 4%. Voyager Technologies CEO Dylan Taylor told MarketWatch the IPO should bring “a lot more eyeballs” to space stocks, but is also likely to spark “sorting between companies that are real and companies that aren’t.” MarketWatch
Stocks traded lower Friday, with global equities down as inflation jitters pushed bond yields up and oil climbed on supply issues, Reuters reported. The Nasdaq slid 1.54%, the S&P 500 was off 1.24%, and the Dow shed 1.07%. Kenny Polcari at Slatestone Wealth said the market “had gotten way ahead of itself” and “inflation remains sticky.” Reuters
But it’s not just macro risk here. SpaceX coming in with a lower valuation than hoped, IPO delays, weak prospectus details, or money moving out of smaller space plays and into SpaceX could all hurt NASA. “Lots of things have to go right” at this valuation, Jay Ritter, IPO tracker at the University of Florida, told Reuters. “Most of the time, things don’t go according to plan.” Reuters
NASA is set for a choppy Monday, not clear in either direction. If Friday’s $34.08 low holds, bulls can keep calling the weekly uptrend alive after last week’s drop. A push past Friday’s $35.13 high would put eyes back on Thursday’s $36.08 top. But if $34.08 gives way, the next spot to watch is the $33.52-$33.95 zone from earlier in the week, where the ETF finished Monday and Tuesday.
The next two days are less about any single ETF disclosure and more about the wait on SpaceX filings. The fund is holding investor attention already. Now it needs to prove the trade works as the market gets the numbers.
