Inside the Joint NASA Proposal That Could Bring Microgravity Flight Back to North America

Issued on behalf of Starfighters Space, Inc.

A supersonic test operator and a parabolic flight specialist are joining forces on a NASA bid that could reopen a microgravity capability the U.S. has gone without.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 20, 2026 /CNW/ -- USA News Group News Commentary — For decades, if a researcher wanted to expose an experiment to a few seconds of true weightlessness without paying for a rocket, the answer was a parabolic flight. The aircraft climbs, the pilot pushes over the top, and for about 20 to 30 seconds, everything inside the cabin floats. Astronauts have trained in those aircraft. Researchers have tested space-bound experiments, hardware, and life sciences protocols in them. NASA has flown microgravity science there for years.

There is one problem in 2026: there is no longer a commercial parabolic flight service operating anywhere in North America. The U.S. lost that capability in recent years, and researchers who need it have been forced to look overseas or wait. Today's announcement out of Cape Canaveral lays out how that gap might be closed.

Two Companies, One Hangar, and a NASA RFI

The company behind the announcement is Starfighters Space, Inc. (NYSE:FJET), the operator of what its own filings describe as the world's fastest fleet of commercial supersonic aircraft. From its primary base at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the company flies modified F-104 jets at sustained Mach 2+ speeds for defense and aerospace customers including Lockheed Martin, Space Florida, and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. [1]

Today's news takes a different turn. Under a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding, Starfighters will host Mu-G Technologies, LLC and its Dassault Falcon 50, which will be modified to conduct parabolic test flights, at Starfighters' second operating site, the Midland International Air & Space Port in Texas, for flight testing and FAA certification work. The two companies will also jointly respond to a NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Request for Information for Parabolic Flight Services — a solicitation aimed at companies that can rebuild the country's commercial microgravity capability. The eventual home base for Mu-G's commercial microgravity flights has not yet been determined. [2]

The arrangement is more than a real estate deal. Starfighters will provide ground support, chase plane and data collection, expert pilot integration, and safety and regulatory alignment while Mu-G works the Falcon 50 through FAA certification for commercial parabolic missions. The Midland co-location gives the partnership a tangible operational footprint for the testing phase and a credible base from which to jointly pursue the NASA RFI. [2]

A Thirty-Year Working Relationship

This partnership did not start last quarter. Starfighters CEO Tim Franta and Mu-G founder Robert S. Ward have known each other for close to thirty years, a relationship traced through the Space Coast aerospace community in Florida. Franta took over as Starfighters CEO in February 2026 after the resignation of founder Rick Svetkoff, and has been steering the company through its commercialization phase. [3]

"I am excited to be working with Tim again and the team at Starfighters to help both restore and expand our nation's access to safe, reliable, high-quality, and long-duration reduced-gravity parabolas to assist critical research and development programs," Ward said in the announcement. Franta echoed the logic: "By bringing Mu-G's Falcon 50 into our Midland facility, we are creating a single location where researchers and customers will be able to access both microgravity and supersonic test environments. Responding jointly to NASA's Request is the next step in building that offering into something the agency and the broader research community can rely on." [2]

Why Microgravity Capability Matters

Microgravity research is not exotic science fiction. It is increasingly where real commercial work happens. Pharma and biotech companies use the absence of gravity-driven sedimentation in microgravity environments to grow purer protein crystals and study drug mechanisms — work that typically scales up to the International Space Station after initial validation on shorter-duration parabolic flights. Materials scientists use reduced gravity to study how alloys solidify without convection currents. Defense and aerospace engineers use parabolic profiles to test sensors, fluid systems, and components destined for space before committing to a full launch.

The combined offering Starfighters and Mu-G are pitching to NASA covers four flight environments at one site: microgravity from the Falcon 50, reduced gravity and hyper-gravity from the same parabolic profiles, and the supersonic regime from Starfighters' F-104s. The NASA RFI specifically asks for "novel or non-traditional flight platforms." The expansion also builds on the strategic framework Starfighters and Mu-G first announced in March 2026. [4]

A Sector Catching a Fresh Tailwind

The timing is not accidental. The commercial space sector is in the middle of its most aggressive expansion in decades, and the May 20 announcement lands against a backdrop of capital flowing back to space names.

SpaceX confidentially filed its S-1 with the SEC on April 1, 2026, and its public registration is expected to land on EDGAR between May 18 and May 22 — possibly the same week as the Starfighters announcement. The targeted June Nasdaq listing aims to raise as much as US$75 billion at a US$1.75 trillion valuation, which would make it the largest IPO in history. [5] Every other publicly traded space name has felt the lift, alongside tailwinds from the Trump administration's Golden Dome missile defense program, the Department of War's expanded hypersonic test budget, and NASA's new Moon Base initiative announced in March.

Four Names Riding the Same Wave

Starfighters is far from the only publicly traded company chasing this opportunity. A look at the broader cohort of NYSE- and Nasdaq-listed space companies posting recent catalysts shows just how busy the sector has become.

Intuitive Machines, Inc. (NASDAQ:LUNR)

The Houston-based lunar lander company has had one of the louder months in the sector. On May 14, Intuitive Machines reported record Q1 2026 revenue of US$186.7 million — nearly triple the prior-year quarter — and a record backlog of US$1.1 billion. [6] Hours later, the company announced a definitive agreement to acquire UK-based Goonhilly Earth Station and COMSAT, adding 44 antennas to its space-to-Earth network. On May 18, it followed up with two new prime contracts totaling US$20 million to operate NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera and the ShadowCam instrument. [7] Roth Capital lifted its price target to US$50 on May 14, and Canaccord raised its target to US$41 a day later. [8]

Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB)

If there is a benchmark for what a scaled commercial space launch company can look like outside SpaceX, Rocket Lab is currently it. The Long Beach–based launch and space systems company reported Q1 2026 revenue of US$200.3 million — up 63.5% year-over-year — and a record backlog of US$2.2 billion. [9] On May 7, it announced the largest launch contract in its history with a confidential customer: five Neutron and three Electron launches through 2029. That came just weeks after a separate US$190 million block buy signed in March with the U.S. Department of War, covering 20 hypersonic test flights of Rocket Lab's HASTE vehicle under the MACH-TB 2.0 program. [10] Cantor Fitzgerald has flagged the upcoming first flight of the new Neutron rocket as a "major catalyst." [11]

Redwire Corporation (NYSE:RDW)

Redwire is one of the most direct thematic comparables to today's announcement, because the company is already deeply embedded in microgravity research. On May 6, Redwire reported Q1 2026 revenue of US$97 million, up 57.9% year-over-year, and a record contracted backlog of US$498.1 million. [12] Redwire operates 11 active payload facilities on the International Space Station — including PIL-BOX, its pharmaceutical manufacturing platform that supported a cancer therapy investigation by Aspera Biomedicines in Q1. Its flagship win for the quarter was selection as one of 14 vendors on the U.S. Space Force's US$1.8 billion Andromeda IDIQ for next-generation geosynchronous reconnaissance and surveillance spacecraft. [13]

Voyager Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:VOYG)

Voyager is the lead developer of Starlab, the proposed commercial replacement for the International Space Station, in a joint venture with Airbus, Mitsubishi, and MDA Space. On its May 5 earnings call, Voyager reported a record backlog of US$275.3 million and raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to US$230–US$255 million. [14] In April, NASA selected Voyager for its seventh Private Astronaut Mission to the ISS, named VOYG-1, scheduled for no earlier than 2028. [15] The company ended the quarter with US$429.4 million in cash, and management has said Starlab is already 130% subscribed on commercial payload capacity. [14]

Where Starfighters Fits

Compared to the others, Starfighters is a smaller-cap name. But it is one of the few publicly traded operators that owns a flying fleet of supersonic aircraft today, with real revenue from real customers — Lockheed Martin, Space Florida, and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory among them. The April 30 announcement opening its F-104 fleet as a commercial aerodynamic test platform set the stage. The May 7 hiring of two senior Blue Origin engineers to lead STARLAUNCH operations signaled the company is staffing up for execution. [16]

Today's Mu-G expansion adds a second dimension to the story. With the Falcon 50 going through modification, certification, and training at Midland under Starfighters' wing, the partnership positions both companies to be contenders in a North American commercial microgravity market that does not currently exist domestically and that NASA has specifically asked industry to fill. The RFI is a Request for Information, not a Request for Proposals, so the agency is still gathering information rather than awarding work. But the joint response puts Starfighters at the table for what could become a significant procurement.

The Bottom Line

The commercial space sector has more momentum than it has had in decades. SpaceX is heading to a record IPO. Rocket Lab, Intuitive Machines, Redwire, and Voyager are all posting record backlogs. NASA is funding new lunar missions, new commercial space stations, and now new commercial microgravity flight services. Against that backdrop, Starfighters Space, Inc. (NYSE:FJET) is positioning itself to be the company that fills two specific gaps at once: commercially available supersonic test capacity for defense and aerospace customers, and a domestic commercial parabolic flight service for the broader research community. Today's Mu-G announcement is the next concrete step toward both. As always, investors should do their own research and consult a qualified financial advisor before making any decision.

For more information on Starfighters Space, Inc., visit: https://usanewsgroup.com/fjet-landing

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Sources:

[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/starfighters-space-demonstrates-commercial-supersonic-130000515.html

[2] https://ir.starfightersspace.com/news-events/press-releases

[3] https://www.stocktitan.net/sec-filings/FJET/8-k-starfighters-space-inc-reports-material-event-3234f73ec472.html

[4] https://starfightersspace.com/starfighters-partners-with-mu-gtech-for-microgravity-flights/

[5] https://www.ibtimes.com/spacex-files-largest-ipo-ever-while-absorbing-494-billion-loss-its-xai-merger-3802915

[6] https://investors.intuitivemachines.com/news-events/latest-news

[7] https://www.stocktitan.net/news/LUNR/intuitive-machines-announces-two-prime-lunar-reconnaissance-2ixwizlwwxtf.html

[8] https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/05/15/canaccord-just-hiked-intuitive-machines-price-target-to-41-nasa-moon-base-golden-dome-power-bull-case/

[9] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/05/07/3290605/0/en/rocket-lab-s-biggest-launch-deal-yet-confidential-customer-books-multiple-neutron-and-electron-launches.html

[10] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/08/rocket-lab-rklb-q1-earnings-2026.html

[11] https://www.tipranks.com/news/rocket-lab-stock-price-forecast-2026-what-financial-analysts-expect-right-now

[12] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001819810/000181981026000060/exhibit991redwire03312026e.htm

[13] https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/05/08/redwire-rdw-q1-2026-earnings-call-transcript/

[14] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260504054092/en/Voyager-Reports-First-Quarter-2026-Financial-Results-Reports-1Q-Record-Backlog-Increases-2026-Revenue-Guidance

[15] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-voyager-for-seventh-private-mission-to-space-station/

[16] https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/starfighters-space-adds-blue-origin-130000983.html

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This publication contains forward-looking information which is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this publication include that demand for U.S. aerodynamic and hypersonic test infrastructure will continue to accelerate; that Starfighters Space, Inc.'s F-104 platform will provide testing capabilities at the cadence and conditions described; that the Company's expansion to Midland, Texas will proceed as planned; that the Company will retain and grow its existing customer base; that comparable companies will perform as expected. The forward-looking information contained herein is provided for the purpose of assisting the reader to understand the Company's business, however such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Risks that could change or prevent these statements from coming to fruition include changing governmental laws and policies; the Company's ability to obtain and retain necessary licensing; political and competitive risks; failure of forecasts and assumptions to come to fruition; and other unforeseen circumstances. The publisher of this article does not take responsibility for the accuracy of any statements made by the issuing company or its representatives. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and the publisher undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law.

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