Intuitive Machines (LUNR +5.96%) stock jumped 5.5% through 12:50 p.m. ET Friday on no specific news -- no specific news about Intuitive Machines, that is, or at least not yet.
Rather, investors in this space company anticipate space news that should land in a few hours, when the Orion spacecraft carrying four astronauts on the Artemis II mission arrives back from the moon and (hopefully) lands safely on Earth.
That's when the fun begins.
Image source: NASA.
Investors love Intuitive Machines to the moon and back
Assuming the Artemis II landing goes nominally, and everyone arrives home safe and sound a little after 8 p.m. ET tonight, the conditions will be set for the rest of NASA's plans for the moon to swing into action:
- An Artemis III space mission to practice docking with lunar landers in Earth orbit next year.
- Preparations for the actual Artemis IV moon landing in 2028.
- And most importantly for Intuitive Machines, a series of 30 missions to land cargo on the moon between now and then, so future astronauts will have the equipment they need to build a permanent base on the moon.
NASA head Jared Isaacman laid out all these plans and more last month in a public presentation outlining $20 billion in future investments to build a moon base. And all of the above hinges on a successful landing of the Artemis II astronauts tonight.
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What it means for Intuitive Machines stock
What does all this have to do with Intuitive? To begin with, the company just won its fifth contract to put cargo on the moon -- an award worth $180.4 million. Additional contracts to build an Earth-to-moon communications system could be worth billions more.
Everything starts with the Artemis II landing tonight, though. Fingers crossed it goes well.
