Astra Space shares surged more than 60% in premarket trading

Astra Space shares surged more than 60% in premarket trading.Astra Space reached orbit for the first time on Saturday with its rocket LV0007, joining a small group of privately-funded companies that have achieved the feat.

The company launched the rocket, which carried a test payload for the U.S. Space Force, from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. After getting off the ground cleanly, the rocket passed through each stage of the launch before reaching its target orbit about nine minutes later at an altitude of about 500 kilometers.

“This is an incredibly hard thing to do,” Astra CEO Chris Kemp said on the company’s webcast.