The first company to complete a fully successful lunar landing is going public
Firefly Aerospace seeks to raise more than $600 million through a public stock offering, an arrangement that would boost the company's market valuation to nearly $5.5 billion, according to a document filed with the SEC on Monday.
The launch of Firefly's Initial Public Offering (IPO) comes as the company works to build on a historic success in March, when Firefly's Blue Ghost lander touched down on the surface of the Moon. Firefly plans to sell 16.2 million shares of common stock, at a price of between $35 and $39 per share. Under those terms, Firefly could raise up to $631.8 million on the public market.
In a statement, Firefly said it will use the funds to pay off a "substantial" amount of debt, support dividend payments, and "for general corporate purposes." Firefly's general corporate purposes include a spectrum of activities, and some are going better than others.
Blue Ghost became the first privately owned spacecraft to pull off a fully successful landing on another world, fulfilling a $101.5 million contract from NASA to deliver a suite of scientific and tech demo experiments to the Moon. Firefly has received orders from NASA for two more lunar missions using the Blue Ghost platform, and the company is positioned to win more after completing its first Moon landing earlier this year.
