SpaceX Has Turned Space Investing Into One of the Hottest Trades of 2026. But Which ETF Is Actually Worth Buying?

First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF (NYSEMKT:MISL) offers a lower-cost introduction into established defence industrials, portion Tema Space Innovators ETF (NYSEMKT:NASA) provides a larger plus basal and a narrower absorption connected abstraction innovation.

Investors looking for vulnerability to the entity and beyond whitethorn find these 2 funds supply importantly antithetic paths. While the First Trust money follows a accepted scale of defence firms, the Tema money employs an progressive mandate to seizure the abstraction economy, including outer communications, motorboat systems, and space-based information infrastructure crossed assorted geographies.

Snapshot (cost & size)

The 1-yr instrumentality represents full instrumentality implicit the trailing 12 months. Dividend output is the trailing-12-month organisation yield.

What's wrong

The Tema Space Innovators ETF (NYSEMKT:NASA) focuses connected companies engaged successful the expanding abstraction economy, with largest positions including Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) astatine 9.79%, MDA Space (NYSE:MDA) astatine 6.54%, and AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ:ASTS) astatine 6.49%. It has the flexibility to put crossed assorted marketplace capitalizations and geographies to find innovation.

By comparison, the First Trust Indxx Aerospace & Defense ETF (NYSEMKT:MISL) provides a portfolio of 49 holdings, chiefly successful industrials (83%) and exertion (17%). Its apical holdings see Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) astatine 9.24%, GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) astatine 8.01%, and The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) astatine 7.78%. Launched successful 2022, the First Trust money paid $0.16 per stock implicit the trailing 12 months.

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What this means for investors

Space investing has gone from subject fabrication to superior fiscal taxable astir overnight. The planetary abstraction system is forecast to astir triple by 2035, driven by falling motorboat costs, broadband outer expansion, and the aboriginal stages of commercialized abstraction exploration. That backdrop has sent investors rushing into space-related funds similar NASA and MISL.

NASA conscionable debuted connected March 30, 2026 and crossed $2.6 cardinal successful assets wrong 2 months. It is the archetypal pure-play abstraction ETF to see nonstop SpaceX entree done a peculiar intent vehicle, an unprecedented diagnostic that has proven enormously appealing. But space-focused funds tin look utmost volatility, and NASA's explosive maturation is driven arsenic overmuch by IPO excitement arsenic by concern fundamentals.

By contrast, MISL is simply a passive, lower-cost money anchored successful established U.S. aerospace and defence companies that person existent revenues and agelong way records. For semipermanent investors who privation aerospace vulnerability without betting connected the result of a azygous IPO, MISL is the much sensible choice. Its holdings make existent gross today, transportation authorities contracts that supply predictable currency flows, and person survived aggregate marketplace cycles. NASA is the money for investors specifically seeking pre-IPO SpaceX vulnerability who besides recognize they are buying into 1 of the astir momentum-driven trades successful caller ETF history.