The rocket manufacturer Astra announced last Friday that Nasdaq had threatened the company with being delisted due to its stock staying below $1 per share for 30 consecutive days, going against the terms of the Nasdaq exchange.
Astra must increase its share price within 180 days, or it could be delisted. On Friday, Astra’s stock achieved 59 cents a share, a decrease of 90% from the beginning of the year. Astra was first listed on the Nasdaq exchange in July 2021 following a SPAC deal with Holicity, opening at a share price of $12.30 before peaking at $16.95 the following day.
This follows news that Astra is halting flights until the end of 2022 after reporting quarterly losses. The firm hopes to recommence commercial launches in 2023, however, Astra CEO Chris Kemp stated that “whether we’ll be able to commence commercial launches in 2023 will depend on the success of our test flights” for a new rocket system, during a conference.
In addition, the company is currently under investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration due to a failed rocket launch earlier this year. The failed NASA TROPICS-1 mission led to NASA putting two other planned launches with Astra on hold.
Astra achieved initial success with its Rocket 3 booster, with 2 successful launches followed by five failures. The firm chose to abandon the Rocket 3 design in favour of the upgraded 4.0.
