Firefly Aerospace Files to Go Public as FLY

Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace has announced its plan to go public.

The rapidly growing company filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of stock to begin trading on Nasdaq.

Firefly, which garnered international attention in March as the first commercial company to successfully land on the moon, chose the ticker symbol FLY. The number of shares to be offered and their price have yet to be determined.

"We are a partner of choice for national security, government, and commercial customers for their critical space missions," Firefly said in its filing. "Our purpose-built family of products aligns with the ongoing paradigm shift in government missions and procurement processes, where speed, dependability, efficiency, and economics drive customer decision-making."

The suburban Austin company, which specializes in building small- to medium-lift launch vehicles, lunar landers and orbital transfer vehicles, declined further comment.

In interviews after the NASA-backed Blue Ghost One landing, though, CEO Jason Kim said Firefly was working toward an increased launch cadence, with Blue Ghost Two and Three missions set to launch in 2026 and 2028, respectively, and at least five launches this year for its satellite-launching Alpha small-lift rocket.

"I believe that the space industry is going to be run by companies that are both rocket and satellite providers all in one company," he said in March. "You really need that bundled capability and the seamless integration of those two capabilities to meet the demands of the future."

It launched an Alpha in late April from California but it failed to reach orbit and crashed into the Pacific Ocean with the Lockheed Martin satellite it was carrying. The rocket system was grounded for investigation.

Kim joined Firefly in September, and said that while the plans for the Blue Ghost mission were mostly completed prior to his arrival, his eyes were set on "2025-and-beyond goals."

Taking the company public was one of those goals. Firefly signaled its intention to make the move in February, when it hired former CNBC space reporter Michael Sheetz as director of investor relations.

It would go public with rapidly increasing revenue and a growing list of future contracts.

Firefly’s Friday filing disclosed it had annual revenue of $60.79 million in 2024, up from $55.24 million the previous year.

It has eclipsed those full-year totals in the first three months of 2025. In the January-March quarter, Firefly reported revenue of $55.86 million, up from $8.32 million a year ago. The company also said its backlog — the estimated future revenue for contract work — nearly doubled in the first quarter to $1.12 billion thanks to new contracts for its Alpha rocket and engineering services.

It also reported widening losses. The company had full-year net losses of $231.13 million in 2024 and $135.46 million in 2023. This year, its first quarter loss widened to $60.09 million from $52.77 million a year ago.

With the filing, the SEC will begin its review of the company’s plan. If the regulator approves the registration, Firefly can proceed with its initial public offering and begin trading shares on the Nasdaq.

It would join Houston-based Intuitive Machines, which was competing with Firefly to be first to successfully land on the moon. In 2023, it went public as LUNR with an IPO price of $10.50. Its shares were down nearly 3% Friday, closing at $10.86.

Elon Musk’s Brownsville-based SpaceX is not publicly traded.