Intuitive Machines' stock experienced a pre-market plunge of 5.91% on Friday, as the space infrastructure company faced a double setback.

The decline was primarily driven by the company's failure to secure a key NASA lunar terrain vehicle construction contract. NASA announced nearly $1 billion in initial lunar base contracts for cargo and infrastructure, awarding them to competitors including Blue Origin, Lunar Outpost, Astrolab, and Firefly Aerospace, with Intuitive Machines notably absent from the allocation.

Compounding the negative sentiment, the broader commercial space sector saw widespread profit-taking during the pre-market session. This followed several days of sharp gains fueled by SpaceX Starship test flight success and short-squeeze dynamics, leading investors to lock in profits and contributing to the sector's weakness that weighed on Intuitive Machines' stock price.