Space business gets billionaire boost

Blue Origin’s successful flight is the rising-tide-lifts-all-boats story of the moment for the sector.

Why it matters: For investors, it doesn’t matter which billionaire hits space first. Recent headlines only generate more interest, some of which turns into investments — and that’s good for companies that need cash.

What they’re saying: Sending humans to space twice on largely privately funded enterprises in less than two weeks is unprecedented, Ken Herbert, managing director at Canaccord Genuity, tells Axios.

• The Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic flights “validate what private capital is able to do,” he adds, and their success also points to a safety record that will support public confidence. 
• Today’s mission “is likely an indication that achieving access to space can become a more regular event, which means (to my mind), that all of the ancillary companies that depend on space access can also be incrementally more likely to succeed,” says Pete…

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