Pomerantz Appointed Co-Lead Counsel in Astra Space Securities Litigation

On October 17, 2022, U.S. Magistrate Judge Marcia M. Henry, of the Eastern District of New York, appointed Pomerantz LLP as Co-Lead Counsel on behalf of its client, Qingping Deng, who serves as the Co-Lead Plaintiff – with another, and the class, in In re Astra Space Inc. f/k/a Holicity Inc. Sec. Lig., 22-cv-737 (E.D.N.Y.). This securities action alleges that Astra Space Inc. ("Astra" or the "Company") misled the market by significantly overstating both the reliability and versatility of its rockets and the commercial prospects for the Company’s business.

Astra designs and operates space launch vehicles and ground infrastructure solutions to support space operations that enable customers, including satellite operators, defense contractors and government agencies, to put satellites and other payloads into low Earth orbit.

Allegations against Astra include that: (i) the Company falsely touted that it could launch its rockets from “anywhere in the world;” (ii) Astra significantly overstated the size of its addressable market; (iii) the Company overstated the effectiveness of its designs and reliability; and (iv) Astra significantly overstated its plans for diversification and its broadband constellation plan.

On December 29, 2021, market researcher Kerrisdale Capital published a report titled “Astra Space, Inc (ASTR): Headed for Dis-Astra” (the “Report”) which alleged several issues with the Company, including that Astra claims that it has “the flexibility to launch from “anywhere in the world,” which is simply not true… In the US, Astra can only launch from an FAA-licensed commercial spaceport approved for vertical launch. There are only 5 such sites (plus SpaceX’s private Boca Chica spaceport) located in the U.S.” Kerrisdale Capital further stated that, with Astra planning to launch several hundred launches each year, “the reliance on a small handful of key spaceports is a bottleneck that threatens its whole business model.”

On this news, Astra’s share price fell 14.2%.