Rocket maker Firefly buys on-orbit servicing company Spaceflight

Rocket maker Firefly Aerospace, founded by a former SpaceX engineer, said on Thursday it has acquired launch services company Spaceflight Inc in a push to boost its on-orbit servicing capabilities.

Firefly is a space transportation company that helps customers such as NASA and General Atomics with launch, lunar and in-space services, while Spaceflight offers servicing for satellites and other spacecraft while in orbit.

The deal comes at a time when demand for sending satellites into space remains strong, but U.S. rocket startups are grappling with a tight funding environment amid the bankruptcy of Virgin Orbit.

Demand has also shifted from launching a few satellites on small rockets to launching swarms of satellites at once using bigger rockets such as the ones made by SpaceX.

Texas-based Firefly is trying to mass-produce its medium-sized rocket, while developing a larger launcher under a new partnership with Northrop Grumman.

Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander is scheduled to complete the first of two missions to the Moon next year with NASA, and will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Firefly is among a handful of U.S. space companies vying to launch small satellites into space. It was valued at more than $1 billion when private equity firm AE Industrial Partners became its controlling shareholder in March 2022.

Spaceflight operates manufacturing and payload processing facilities in Bellevue, Washington.