The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2016
🌱
2016
Founded in Alameda
Chris Kemp and Adam London aim for cheap, high-frequency small-rocket launches.
Wikipedia
Jul 2021
📈
Jul 2021
De-SPAC debut: an instant ~$3.9B unicorn$3.9B
Merging with Holicity puts the rocket maker on Nasdaq near its all-time-high valuation.
CNBC
Nov 2021
Nov 2021
Reaches orbit at last
LV0007 makes Astra one of the few small-launch startups to reach orbit.
TechCrunch
2022
2022
Failures force a reset
Repeated launch failures pile up; Astra retires its rocket mid-course and pivots toward spacecraft engines as cash dwindles.
CNBC
2021–24
💬
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2021–24
Glassdoor reviews across those years praised the engineering talent but described a top-heavy organization — employees repeatedly noted more managers and directors than technicians actually building rockets — and recounted frequent, confusing changes of direction, including a costly mid-course reset of the rocket program itself.
2024
🤝
2024
Taken private by its founders, near zero
Kemp and London buy the company back at a near-zero price; it delists roughly 99% below peak.
Investing.com
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Astra Space was a small-rocket launch company aiming for low-cost, high-frequency orbital launches, valued at ~$3.9B after its 2021 SPAC debut. Repeated launch failures and a pivot toward spacecraft engines, combined with dwindling cash, crushed its valuation; its founders took it private at a near-zero price in 2024 and it was delisted, down roughly 99%.
