Commercial Space Shakeup: MDA Buys Blue Canyon, Starship Orbits
A year of consolidation and comebacks
The space industry's 2026 has had a theme: the commercial sector is maturing, and that brings both bigger bets and more visible setbacks. Between June and late September, a Canadian firm made a significant acquisition in the U.S. defense market. SpaceX's Starship finally reached orbit. NASA doubled down on Boeing's troubled crew capsule. A pioneering satellite-servicing mission fell short. Each story matters on its own. Together they show an industry moving from proving that things can be done to proving that they can be done reliably and profitably.
MDA's $620 million push into U.S. defense
In June, MDA Space, the Canadian company best known for robotic arms like Canadarm2 on the International Space Station, said it would buy Blue Canyon Technologies from RTX's Raytheon business for $620 million in cash 1. The stated goal is to expand MDA's footprint in the U.S. defense space market 1.
The deal is worth watching for what it says about strategy. Defense spending on space has become one of the steadiest revenue streams in an otherwise volatile sector, and buying an established U.S. business is a faster route into that market than building one. For RTX, the sale suggests a willingness to trim assets rather than hold every piece of the space supply chain. That reading is an inference, since the company's specific rationale was not detailed. Either way, the transaction fits a broader pattern of consolidation, where firms with strong niches use acquisitions to reach the customers with the deepest pockets.
Insurance for orbital AI data centers
Around the same time, space startups were reportedly looking for insurance coverage for orbital AI data centers 1. Little detail was given. Still, the fact that insurers are being approached at all is telling. Underwriting usually follows once a business concept looks credible enough to attract real capital. Placing computing infrastructure in orbit is still speculative, but the search for coverage suggests some investors are treating it as more than a thought experiment. Whether underwriters agree, and on what terms, will be an early sign of how seriously the financial world takes the idea.
Starship reaches orbit at last
The biggest technical milestone came on September 28, when SpaceX's Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time 2. It was the vehicle's 14th test flight, and Starship is described as the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed 2. The mission was also a key test of the heat shield and marked Starship's first deployment of a payload or hardware during flight 2.
Thirteen earlier flights before reaching orbit shows how SpaceX works. It accepts repeated, public failures in exchange for fast learning. The heat shield matters most here. A fully reusable vehicle only pays off economically if it can survive reentry repeatedly with little refurbishment, so how that system performs on orbital flights will shape Starship's commercial prospects as much as the orbital achievement itself.
NASA bets again on Starliner
Boeing's Starliner is on a much rougher path. NASA announced plans for new Starliner missions, the first since a troubled test flight left astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stuck at the ISS for months 2. The agency is also putting extra support and money behind the capsule to get it repaired and flying as soon as possible 2.
The likely reason is redundancy. NASA has long wanted two independent ways to get crews to orbit, so it does not depend entirely on SpaceX's Crew Dragon. The decision also carries risk. More funding for a program that has already struggled will draw scrutiny, and another failure would be damaging both for Boeing and for NASA's judgment.
Lessons from a mission that missed
Not every effort succeeded. A commercial mission meant to raise the orbit of NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory ended without boosting the spacecraft 2. NASA and contractor Katalyst Space have presented it as useful experience for future in-space servicing programs 2.
Spinning a miss as a lesson is standard in the industry, but in-space servicing really is an immature field. Docking with a satellite never built to be serviced is hard. The data from a failed attempt may have real value, even if the observatory itself gained nothing this time.
The bigger picture
Read together, these developments show a sector that is consolidating financially and pushing harder technically, while still running into the limits of what is proven. The clearest divide is between SpaceX, whose test-heavy approach finally reached orbit, and Boeing, whose capsule NASA is propping up for strategic reasons. The next year will test whether bold bets like orbital data centers and in-space servicing can follow Starship from repeated attempts to reliable success.
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