The Space Race Is Heating Up. Here Are 3 Stocks Worth Watching Right Now.

SpaceX's announcement earlier this year that it will IPO its stock (finally!) in 2026 shook up the space investing market -- and ignited a whole lotta rocket stocks. With the world's lowest launch cost for rockets, a dominant satellite internet business in Starlink, and a burgeoning fleet of rocket ships based on Starship capable of reaching and landing on the moon, SpaceX is inarguably the world's most famous space stock today.

But it's hardly the only space company out there. Here are three more I believe bear watching.

Image source: Getty Images.

Gauss-ing where some people have gone before: Rocket Lab

Often described as a "mini-SpaceX," many space investors view Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) as a second bite at the apple, and a second chance to invest in a rocket company that looks a lot like SpaceX looked early in its lifespan -- at a much cheaper price.

Consider: Reports suggest that when SpaceX IPOs, the space giant will fetch a $1.75 trillion market capitalization. Rocket Lab, in contrast, costs less than 3% as much at $51 billion.

Admittedly, Rocket Lab is also a much smaller company. 2025 revenue totaled barely $600 million, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, versus SpaceX's reported $16 billion in 2025 revenue (per Reuters). Still, Rocket Lab's revenue is approaching 4% of SpaceX's. For a price only 3% of SpaceX's, that sounds like a bargain.

Rocket Lab's also probably earlier in its growth phase, and churning out new products and entering new markets just as SpaceX did when it was young. Just last week, for example, Rocket Lab announced it has a new "Gauss" electric propulsion system for sale to power satellites and spacecraft in orbit and deep space. The company aims to build 200 Hall-effect Gauss thrusters annually throughout the space industry, continuing to grow a "space systems" business that's already twice as big as its rocket launch division.

Voyager ISS mission

A second publicly traded space company is Voyager Technologies (NYSE: VOYG), the driving force behind the new Starlab space station that could soon replace the International Space Station (ISS). Voyager leads a coalition of several companies from around the globe working on this project, including U.S. corporations and partners from Canada, Europe, and Japan. It's both the most international and the best funded of four different teams of companies vying to replace ISS.

Last week, Voyager took another step toward cementing its lead in the space station race, announcing it has contracted with NASA to send Voyager's first-ever team of private astronauts to ISS to train in orbit. (Among the other space station teams, Axiom Space has contracted to send five such teams of private astronauts to ISS; Vast, one; and Jeff Bezos' Orbital Reef -- zero.)

What's really interesting about this mission, though, is that Voyager skipped right past talking about ISS in its press release, characterizing its astronauts' mission instead as focusing on testing "life-support technologies, crew operations protocols and integrated systems architectures" that will be used not on ISS, but on the moon. Indeed, ISS got hardly a mention in the PR, with Voyager describing itself as having a "strategic lunar initiative."

Seeing as NASA is gearing up to spend $20 billion on the moon, that may be the right call.

Odd man out: Axiom Space

Speaking of the space station, though, there's one final space station competitor I want to bring to your attention -- although this one isn't publicly traded yet, and only available for private investment: Axiom Space.

As if building a brand new space station weren't enough, Payload Space reports that Axiom is also hard at work designing a new space suit for astronauts to wear both on ISS and on the moon as well. Alongside partners including Oakley (which will design the helmet's sun visor) and Prada (which will ensure the suit looks fabulous), Axiom has a sole-source contract for this suit.

And just in case you think a space suit sounds like small potatoes next to rivals building space stations and launching rockets, consider this: Every single human who goes to space, no matter who sends them there, is going to need an individualized space suit to protect them on spacewalks. So no matter who wins other contracts, the bigger the space industry gets, the more likely it is to benefit Axiom.

Granted, the big prize is still the contract to build an ISS replacement, and Axiom remains in that race. (Indeed, the need for funds to run that race may provide the biggest catalyst that may push Axiom to IPO, and give us a chance to invest in it.)

But don't discount the space suits, either. They're pretty important.

Rich Smith has positions in Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Rocket Lab. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.