Northrop Grumman Invests in Defense-Focused Space Startup

A Texas startup that landed a spacecraft on the moon in March is deepening its ties with Northrop Grumman Corp. to develop a rocket capable of competing against Elon Musk’s SpaceX for some US Department of Defense missions.

Northrop Grumman has invested $50 million into Firefly Aerospace Inc., the two companies told Bloomberg Thursday. The money will be used for the Eclipse, a co-developed rocket in the works since 2022 that’s built upon Northrop Grumman’s Antares and Firefly’s Alpha rockets.