Rocket Lab Sinks 9%, Planet Labs Tumbles 6%, Intuitive Machines Slides 5%: Space Rally Hits a Wall

Quick Read

• Extreme momentum into the session sparked coordinated profit-taking across pure-play commercial space stocks; Rocket Lab (RKLB) fell 9% with Q1 FY2026 revenue of $200.35M up 64% YoY and a $2.2B backlog.

• Planet Labs (PL) dropped 6% with remaining performance obligations jumping 361% YoY to $672.47M from government contracts, including a €240M German deal.

• Intuitive Machines (LUNR) fell 5% with Q1 FY2026 revenue surging 199% YoY to $186.73M following the $800M Lanteris acquisition.

• The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Intuitive Machines wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE.

Pure-play commercial space stocks are getting hit hard at midday on Tuesday. Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) is down 9%, Planet Labs (NYSE:PL) is off 6%, and Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) has slipped 5%.

There's no single company-specific headline driving the move in Rocket Lab, Planet Labs, or Intuitive Machines. The selloff looks coordinated across the complex, hitting launch, Earth observation, and lunar services names at once. After monster runs into this week, that's a textbook profit-taking setup.

The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Intuitive Machines wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE.

The prediction-market crowd already sees it. Polymarket's daily direction market for RKLB stock priced the odds of a down close today at 99%, conviction that lines up almost exactly with the intraday move.

Momentum Unwind Hits the Whole Sector

The rallies going into Tuesday were extreme. Rocket Lab stock entered the session up a stunning 413% over the past year. Planet Labs stock was the real eye-catcher, sitting on a 111% one-year gain.

Intuitive Machines stock wasn't far behind, up 172% over twelve months heading into today's session. When three names move that vertically in the same theme, the eventual reset tends to come together too.

Retail positioning amplified the setup. Reddit sentiment on RKLB hit "very bullish" readings as high as 88 on May 15, then flipped to bearish (a score of 32) by this morning. One viral WallStreetBets post titled "1.3M to 450k to 1.25M" drew 1,711 upvotes celebrating a leveraged RKLB recovery trade, the kind of euphoria that typically marks a near-term top.

The Bull Case Hasn't Changed

The structural story behind the space rally is still intact. Rocket Lab's fundamentals support the narrative, with Q1 FY2026 revenue of $200.35 million, up 64% year over year (YoY), and a backlog of $2.2 billion. Its Neutron rocket debut remains the major catalyst later this year.